UGANDAN FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS ERITREAN PRESIDENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000336 SIPDIS SIPDIS LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2017 TAGS: PREL ER UG SO SUBJECT: UGANDAN FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS ERITREAN PRESIDENT ISAIAS Classified By: AMBASSADOR SCOTT H. DELISI, FOR REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D) ¶1. (U) Ugandan Foreign Minister, Sam Kutesa, met with Government of the State of Eritrea (GSE) President Isaias Afwerki on March 19. Official reports of the meeting posted on the GSE website www.shabait.com claimed Kutesa delivered a message to Isaias from Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in which President Museveni "expressed a readiness to work together with President Isaias to promote a lasting peace in Somalia and his desire to jointly start practical steps to this end." The report further indicated that Uganda and Eritrea "agreed" that the Somalis should decide their future for themselves and the external forces should withdraw. ¶2. (U) Prior to Kutesa,s trip, the GSE had published a series of strong messages warning of the dire consequences unless Uganda pulls its peacekeeping troops out of Somalia. These statements included a March 9 interview with BBC news in which GSE Minister of Information Ali Abdu claimed the presence of Ugandan troops would only worsen the situation in Somalia and further destabilize the region. A March 12 GSE website statement labeled the Ugandan troops as an "invading force" acting on behalf of the U.S. to "do away with the political choice of the Somali people." ¶3. (C) The Ugandan FM visit was seemingly arranged to occur under the radar, with little fanfare. African Union representative, Rodney Kiwa, admitted to Poloff he had no prior knowledge of the visit and said "I read about it in the newspaper, just like everyone else." Usually the Asmara rumor mill would offer some glimpse of the tone or topics of the meeting, however, the rumor mill was silent on Kutesa's visit. (Note: Other than Sudan, Libya, Egypt, Djibouti and South Africa, no other African Union countries maintain embassies in Asmara. End Note.) ¶4. (C) Comment: Given the GSE,s public and harsh condemnation of Uganda's role as the first AU peacekeeping contingent in Somalia, Kutesa's visit was unexpected. None of our normal interlocuters in town seem to know the reason for the FM making the trip personally, or the outcome of the meeting from the Ugandan perspective, although a reasonable guess is that the Ugandans are trying to keep the GSE somewhat within the IGAD fold, in an attempt to prevent them from becoming the regional spoiler in Somalia. If so, then the visit seems to have been successful, at least for the time being, in cooling new GSE rhetoric about the Ugandan role in the Somalia peace-keeping. End Comment. DeLisi