Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ADDISABABA3290
2007-11-09 14:20:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Addis Ababa
Cable title:  

ETHIOPIA: DISCUSSION WITH PM ON BORDER, OGADEN,

Tags:  PGOV PINS PREL MOPS PBTS KPKO ET ER 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2994
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHDS #3290/01 3131420
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 091420Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8510
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ADDIS ABABA 003290 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF AND AF/E
LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHER
CJTF-HOA AND USCENTCOM FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINS PREL MOPS PBTS KPKO ET ER
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA: DISCUSSION WITH PM ON BORDER, OGADEN,
NDI AND HR2003


Classified By: DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION DEBORAH MALAC FOR REASONS 1.4 (B
) AND (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ADDIS ABABA 003290

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF AND AF/E
LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHER
CJTF-HOA AND USCENTCOM FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINS PREL MOPS PBTS KPKO ET ER
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA: DISCUSSION WITH PM ON BORDER, OGADEN,
NDI AND HR2003


Classified By: DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION DEBORAH MALAC FOR REASONS 1.4 (B
) AND (D)


1. (C) Summary: Following AFRICOM General Ward,s November 8
courtesy call on Prime Minister Meles, Ambassador and DCM
stayed behind to raise with the PM several issues of
interest. Meles said the departure of Somali Prime Minister
Ghedi offered an opportunity for progress on reconciliation,
but only if President Yusuf reached out to broaden the base
of the TFG. On the Eritrea-Ethiopia border issue, Meles
repeated his position that Ethiopia has no intention of
attacking Eritrea, and decried media reports that war was
imminent. Clearly exercised by H.R. 2003, Meles said he
could not accept the fact of the U.S. Congress dictating to
Ethiopia how it should set up its Electoral Board. He
admitted that there had been some logistical problems related
to food distributions in the Ogaden, but that the GOE was
working to address them. Finally, Meles said that NDI should
work with the National Electoral Board to train local
election observers. End Summary.

--------------
Somalia and Somaliland
--------------


2. (C) In a wide-ranging discussion of regional and domestic
issues on November 8, Prime Minister Meles told Ambassador
and DCM that the resignation of Somalia's Prime Minister
Ghedi and the recent decision in Baidoa to permit cabinet
members to come from outside Parliament marked an opportunity
to make progress on national reconciliation. Cautioning that
Somalis move on a slower timeline than even the Ethiopians,
Meles advised the Ambassador to have patience as it will take
time for the selection of the new Prime Minister who had to
be Hawiye/Abgaal. Once the new Prime Minister was in place,
Meles said the TFG could then focus on reconciliation,

including broadening the composition of the TFG, and
negotiating with other clans and moderate members of the
former Council of Islamic Courts.


3. (C) On Somaliland, Meles urged the U.S. to fulfill its
promise to have President Dahir Kahin Riyale visit the U.S.
The visit would benefit both the U.S. and Somaliland. Kahin
would be more receptive to discussion and coordination on
counterterrorism issues because the visit would allow him to
consolidate his base of support at home for cooperation with
the U.S. Meles also suggested that the U.S. consider
inviting Puntland's president for a visit as well.

--------------
The Border
--------------


4. (C) Moving to the Ethiopia-Eritrea border issue, Meles
reiterated what he has told us several times in recent weeks
) Ethiopia does not want to fight and will not start a war.
He also said that Eritrea was in no position to fight and
Isaias, capacity to wage war was diminishing daily. The
biggest threat at the moment, said Meles, was if the Security
Council inadvertently legitimized the EEBC,s virtual
demarcation of the border. If that happened, Ethiopia would
withdraw from the Algiers Accord, he added. Meles also
raised international media (specifically Washington Post)
reports and the recent International Crisis Group report,
calling them dangerous because they were fabricating
information when they claimed that the U.S. was giving a
green light to an Ethiopian invasion of Eritrea. Such
misinformation, said Meles, played directly into Eritrea,s
hands and only served to heighten tensions.

--------------
Ogaden
--------------


5. (C) The Ambassador gave a brief readout on our concerns
regarding the Ogaden and the October 31 meeting he had hosted
on the topic. He stressed that we want to work together with
the GOE to find a way to get food into the region. Citing
his own experiences as an insurgent fighter as evidence, the
Prime Minister stated emphatically that the GOE has no
strategy to starve anybody, and that starvation, especially

ADDIS ABAB 00003290 002 OF 002


in the context of an insurgency, is exactly the wrong
strategy to employ. Meles admitted that there have been
problems with food deliveries ) shortages of trucks, truck
drivers who are stealing shipments for their own personal
financial benefit, and truckers refusing to travel to the
reason out of fear. He said he has asked the ENDF to provide
additional trucks ) and they have done so, although even
this effort did not work out quite as intended. The ENDF
provided 80 trucks for food delivery, but DPPA (the GOE
agency charged with emergency response) sent them all to Fik,
said Meles. When he inquired why they all went to Fik and
not elsewhere in the region, Meles said DPPA told him it was
because the NGOs told them that is where they should go
(based on the recent Save the Children nutritional survey).
Although clearly frustrated by this particular incident and
the internal bureaucratic issues it displayed, Meles also
noted frustration with NGOs, media and some of the Diaspora
who continue to push to try paint everything that the GOE
does in a negative light.

--------------
H.R. 2003
--------------


6. (C) Not surprisingly, Meles raised H.R. 2003. He was
quite exercised. Saying he could understand that some members
of Congress might criticize Ethiopia or even push for a
cut-off of all assistance, Meles said he could not, however,
accept that the U.S. Congress would dare to tell Ethiopia, as
a sovereign state, how it should set up its own electoral
board. &I do not understand8, he said, &how legislators,
many of whom are lawyers and understand the impact of
legislation8 could agree to legislate for another country.
Meles said he used to believe that the somewhat
&disorganized orchestra8 that was the U.S. system of
government ultimately always made &beautiful music8. The
passage of H.R. 2003, however, has made him reconsider this
belief.

---
NDI
---


7. (C) In response to a request for clarification about the
possible return of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) to
Ethiopia, Meles said NDI was free to return to help build the
institutions of democratic governance. He said that the GOE
and NDI had different definitions of civil society
organizations, but that they could discuss where and how NDI
might work with some of those groups. Meles also offered
that NDI could perhaps train local election observerQrough
or under the auspices of the National Electoral Board, but
not independently.

--------------
Comment
--------------


8. (C) Clearly chagrined about H.R. 2003, reports of crisis
in the Ogaden, and continuing negative media reports, Meles
was very direct in expressing this frustration. He is trying
to keep the GOE response in check, but was forthright in
saying that fighting the propaganda battle was distracting
everyone from the real work of addressing problems. The
Embassy continues to discuss options related to a return of
NDI to Ethiopia and whether we can find a framework that will
be acceptable to NDI and the GOE.
QMOTO