PRIME MINISTER MELES EXPLAINS SOMALIA WITHDRAWAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 003296

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/09/2018
TAGS: PREL MOPS EAID ET SO SU
SUBJECT: PRIME MINISTER MELES EXPLAINS SOMALIA WITHDRAWAL
TO SENATOR INHOFE

Classified By: Ambassador Donald Yamamoto. Reasons: 1.4 (B) and (D).

Summary
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1. (C) Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles praised U.S. relations
as vital to regional security and Ethiopia's efforts to fight
poverty, during the visit by Senator Inhofe, who was
accompanied by Congressmen Miller, Neugebauer and Aderholt.
Prime Minister Meles particularly praised our bilateral
intelligence sharing relationship. Meles emphasized
Ethiopia's respect for human rights and commitment to poverty
reduction. The Prime Minister focused on the departure of
Ethiopian forces from Somalia at the end of the year because
of the lack of financial support from the international
community for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)
and the failure of the Somali Transitional Federal Government
(TFG) to reach out to other clans to stabilize Somalia,
counter extremists and enhance governance. Ethiopia's
continued presence in Somalia would not improve the
prospects for peace and stability, Meles said. Meles thanked
the Senator for his support for military training which has
greatly benefited Ethiopia. The Prime Minister expressed
particular concern with Eritrea's support for, and financial
assistance to, extremists in Somalia, while also highlighting
the deteriorating situation in Sudan. Senator Inhofe
remarked that his visit to Ethiopia was his 100th visit to an
African country. End summary.

U.S. Strategic Relations Remain Strong
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2. (C) Senator James Inhofe, accompanied by Congressmen Jeff
Miller, Randy Neugebauer, and Robert Aderholt, and staffers
Anthony Lazarski and Mark Powers, and Ambassador met with
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on December 4. Meles
praised U.S. strategic relations as vital to regional
stability and critical to enhancing peace which is essential
to Ethiopia's efforts to focus its energies on its poverty
reduction programs. Meles praised Senator Inhofe's work in
the Senate to advance and expand International Military
Education and Training (IMET) and other military training
programs. The Prime Minister said Ethiopia had benefited
from the Senator's efforts through U.S. support for the
Ethiopian Defense Command and Staff College to train
Ethiopia's future military leaders and the newly established
Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) training facility. The Prime
Minister also noted support by the U.S. for C-130 spare parts
and urged the U.S. to fulfill its promise of ten years ago to
provide four C-130s. Ethiopia received only two from the
U.S. before restrictions stemming from the Ethiopia-Eritrea
War forced the end to transfers of military equipment. Meles
promoted the close and cooperative bilateral relationship,
especially on intelligence sharing, which has helped to
enhance security for Ethiopia and the region. The Prime
Minister noted that Ethiopia stands in a paramount position
in the region because of its support for U.S. special
programs and initiatives that enhance security for Ethiopia
and other regional states.

Human Rights Defense
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3. (SBU) The Prime Minister emphasized Ethiopia's human
rights record and characterized recent criticism from Human
Rights Watch as uninformed and dangerously wrong because it
purposely provided false facts. The Prime Minister explained
that Ethiopia never replied to such human rights allegations
in the past, but has now changed its approach and prepared a
rebuttal to the Human Rights Watch report on the Ogaden
because the facts were so egregiously distorted. He cited
the charges of burnt villages and reports of tortured people.
Meles noted that the Ethiopian Government (GoE) report
interviewed victims who were reported as killed in the Human
Rights Watch report. The Prime Minister articulated that the
GoE will prosecute violators of human rights. In one
instance, Meles said, a Major had beaten a civilian and the
officer was court martialed. The Prime Minister also said
that the State Department's human rights report also contains
distorted information which repeated allegations raised by
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or human rights groups.
Meles related that one U.S. Ambassador ten years ago had
raised a human rights case with him and that the Prime
Minister investigated the case. He welcomed such a dialogue
to investigate and correct, if need be, human rights charges.

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But the U.S. Ambassador was later informed that he had
overstepped his bounds and was not allowed to share any
information of cases until the issuance of the report. The
Prime Minister felt this was unfair and that if the U.S. had
evidence or cases of human rights abuse, he urged the U.S. to
work with the Ethiopian Government to resolve the cases.

Withdrawal from Somalia
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4. (SBU) Prime Minister Meles told the Senator that Ethiopian
forces will withdraw from Somalia by the end of the year.
Ethiopian forces were scheduled to depart much sooner but
stayed in Somalia at the request of the African Union which
pressed Ethiopia not to withdraw because it would create a
security vacuum and a political crisis. The African Union
argued that it needed time to form AMISOM and secure troops
to replace the Ethiopian force. But after two years and only
a modest force in place, Ethiopia felt its continued presence
was not enhancing peace and security and that its forces must
leave Somalia. While a security vacuum will be created and
extremists will quickly fill the void, the continued presence
of Ethiopian troops is not sustainable and would not solve
Somalia's problems.


5. (SBU) Meles cited two problems to solving the Somalia
problem. First, the African Union and international
community did not provide sufficient peacekeepers for AMISOM
nor, more important, the financial support to the African
Union to pay for troops. Second, TFG President Yusuf failed
to reach out to his own Prime Minister and other Somali
clans, thus failing to stem the violence and chaos and
conveying to the international community a lack of confidence
in the TFG's ability to provide stability, check the spread
of extremism and enhance governance. Meles said the 3,000
troop strong AMISOM force is far below the 8,000 force size
necessary for peacekeeping in Mogadishu. But increasing the
force size is dependent on money from the international
community. Meles also stated that the small contingent of
Ugandan and Burundian troops want to leave Somalia prior to
the pullout of Ethiopian forces. Meles urged the Senator for
the U.S. to support the withdrawal of AMISOM forces prior to
the departure of Ethiopian forces. The U.S. is best
positioned to provide airlift and logistical support for the
removal of AMISOM forces. Meles opined that once Ethiopian
forces left Somalia they would be able to secure its borders
and, if necessary, conduct surgical strikes into Somalia
against potential targets threatening Ethiopia's security.

Piracy
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6. (SBU) Meles expressed his views that piracy, while
unprecedented for the number of attacks and ransom paid, was
primarily a criminal activity but that extremist groups were
now involved in the lucrative business of hijacking of ships.
This will lead to more arms and explosives entering Somalia
and bolder actions by pirates.


Eritrea: State Sponsor of Terrorism
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7. (SBU) Meles said it was clear that Eritrea was a state
sponsor of terrorism. He said the U.S. had provided evidence
of Eritrea's security officials involved in money and arms
shipments to extremists in Somalia for terrorist operations
against Ethiopia. Meles added that Eritrea was cultivating
ties with Iran, giving Iran access to facilities in Assab
port, including an oil refinery. Meles urged greater
cooperation among the international community to contain
Eritrea and scrutinize Iran's role in the region.

Sudan: Dangerous Warning Signs
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8. (SBU) Meles sounded an ominous warning that Sudan was not
headed in the right direction. The Comprehensive Peace
Agreement (CPA; or, the north-south agreement) has collapsed,
Meles said. The north and south cannot agree on wealth
sharing, specifically the oil fields and the wealth generated
by oil production. Lack of progress on resolving border
disputes enhanced the divisions. Meles recounted that
President Bashir felt the U.S. did not honor what the
Sudanese President believed was a commitment by the U.S. to

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remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism
once the CPA had been signed. The problem was the Darfur
tragedy which made it difficult to provide Sudan any benefits
from the CPA agreement. Further, President Bashir felt the
West was seeking regime change especially when the
International Court of Justice indicted Bashir for crimes
against humanity. Instability in Sudan is like a "bomb"
which will affect the entire region.

Comment
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9. (SBU) Prime Minister Meles struck a chord of warning of
pending security problems looming in the near future from the
ungoverned spaces of Somalia, reflected by the severe piracy
problem, and the deteriorating situation in Sudan, to
terrorist support activities by Eritrea that destabilize the
region. Other senior Ethiopian officials, from Meles'
National Security Advisor to other MFA officials, have
underscored the departure of ENDF forces even if financial
assistance was provided for the ENDF to stay in Somalia. The
GoE has clearly made up its mind that ENDF presence was not
helping the Somali situation. End Comment.


10. (U) Senator Inhofe's delegation cleared this message.
YAMAMOTO