SOMALIA - IGAD DEPLOYMENT: AUSTRIAN RESPONSE

UNCLAS VIENNA 000907

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E, IO/UNP, EUR/ERA AND EUR/AGS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL SO AF AU UNSC EUN
SUBJECT: SOMALIA - IGAD DEPLOYMENT: AUSTRIAN RESPONSE

REF: STATE 47850

This message is sensitive but unclassified.


1. (SBU) Pol Unit Chief discussed reftel points with
Austrian MFA DAS-equivalent for Sub-Saharan Africa Caroline
Gudenus on March 18. Gudenus related that an EU fact-finding
mission to Somalia in mid-February had found some positive
developments. While acceptance of a possible African
Union-sponsored mission was still spotty, it was slowly
increasing. The debrief of this mission had been the subject
of a recent discussion within the EU's Africa working group.


2. (SBU) Gudenus confided that the EU shared our
reservations about an IGAD deployment, although, she noted,
the EU meeting she was referring to predated the IGAD
proposal. The EU felt that any peacekeeping deployment must
be the result of a consensus among all the players in the
region, including the African Union. It would require broad
support from the various Somali factions. The EU believed
that a troop presence of Somalia's neighbors (especially
Ethiopia) would provoke "strong resentments." However,
Ethiopia did not appear to be insisting on participation. In
any case, Gudenus continued, the African Union would have to
help plan and coordinate the execution of any stabilization
activities involving IGAD or its member states.
Brown