USAU: JUNE 11-12 MEETING OF IGAD COUNCIL OF

UNCLAS ADDIS ABABA 001825 AF/FO, AF/RSA FOR JKELLEY AND WHALDERMAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID AU SUBJECT: USAU: JUNE 11-12 MEETING OF IGAD COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS ¶1. SUMMARY: On June 11-12 the Foreign Ministers of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) convened in Addis for their twenty-seventh Ordinary Session. The meeting was chaired by Kenya, co-chaired by the Italian Ambassador, and addressed by Ethiopia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, the IGAD Executive Secretary, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the African Union, and a representative of the Norwegian government. Two messages were clearly and directly delivered -- it is time to set the IGAD house in order and deal with the security challenges in the region (Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea-Ethiopian border and Eritrea-Djibouti and incidentally, Chad) and the solutions to the problems in the IGAD region are not to be found in Washington, London and Brussels but in Africa. END SUMMARY. ¶2. Ethiopia's Foreign Minister opened the meeting warning of the emerging challenges in the region and concluding regional states are making insufficient progress in addressing them, with the result they are making inadequate progress in development. He noted that new crises potentially undermined fragile advances, and linked oil prices, climate change, and stagnation in agriculture to instability that threatened to marginalize the IGAD region for the future. He characterized IGAD as "one of the weakest links in regional economic integration on the continent" and urged the ministers to address the challenges. Elaborating, he called on all member states to take responsibility, singling out Eritrea as a primary spoiler in the region, and warning that Eritrea's June attack on Djibouti should not be taken lightly. He concluded congratulating the outgoing IGAD Executive Secretary, noting this is a critical juncture for the region, and pleading with the ministers to make unity and solidarity more than a slogan. ¶3. The Kenyan Foreign Minister, outgoing chair, pointed to IGAD successes, citing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Sudan and the Transitional Federal Government in Somalia, although he enjoined the Somalis to embrace peace, noting the IGAD partners could help but could not supply internal political will. Speaking of AMISOM, he urged partners to offer financial support to potential Troop Contributing Countries (TCC),asserting if the Partners could find fifty million dollars to intervene in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, surely they could find resources to support the AU mission in Somalia. He stressed, however, that African problems do not have solutions in Washington, London or Brussels. He welcomed Louis Michel, who addressed the meeting, but made clear African leaders would deal with the European Union not on EU terms but their own. (FYI: This is a reference to 2007 when the EC announced a Horn of Africa strategy initiative without consultation with IGAD. END FYI) He too, identified Eritrea (which has temporarily withdrawn from IGAD) as quarrelsome and troublesome. ¶4. Attalla Hamad Bashir, the outgoing Sudanese Executive Secretary of IGAD, reflected on his eight years at the helm of the organization, citing both challenges and achievements. One challenge is financial. Bashir urged member states to pay their assessed dues. He suggested that going forward member states create national steering committees for regional programs and development cooperation. He urged that IGAD position itself strategically to work closely with the African Union, other regional economic communities (RECs) and other development partners. ¶5. COMMENT: The discussion at the IGAD Summit will continue on the margins of the African Union Summit at Sharm-el-Sheikh, where a protocol for cooperation with the AU of the RECs, and the and modalities for its implementation will be the subject of a side meeting. The communique from the IGAD Heads of State meeting on June 14 (reported SEPTEL) echoes that regional instability is fueled particularly by Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea, that instability marginalizes the IGAD region, and that it is the responsibility of leaders of the states of the region to come together to negotiate solutions to the instability. END COMMENT. YAMAMOTO