Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ASMARA290
2008-05-29 14:17:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Asmara
Cable title:
GSE ACTIVELY SEEKS TO DIVIDE ARS
how-toVZCZCXRO6047 RR RUEHDE RUEHROV RUEHTRO DE RUEHAE #0290/01 1501417 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 291417Z MAY 08 FM AMEMBASSY ASMARA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9701 INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE RUCNSOM/SOMALIA COLLECTIVE RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC RUEPADJ/CJTF-HOA J2X CAMP LEMONIER DJ RUMICEA/JICCENT MACDILL AFB FL
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASMARA 000290
SIPDIS
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
DEPT FOR AF/E
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/28/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV SO ER
SUBJECT: GSE ACTIVELY SEEKS TO DIVIDE ARS
REF: ASMARA 269
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASMARA 000290
SIPDIS
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
DEPT FOR AF/E
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/28/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV SO ER
SUBJECT: GSE ACTIVELY SEEKS TO DIVIDE ARS
REF: ASMARA 269
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4(d)
1. (C) Summary: A Finnish Parliamentarian who recently
travelled from meetings with Alliance for the Re-Liberation
of Somalia (ARS) members in Djibouti to meet with ARS members
in Asmara emphasized that both sides expressed their desire
to reunite. However, Asmara members have been discouraged
from doing so by the Eritrean government. End Summary.
Measuring the ARS Divide
--------------
2. (C) Ambassador and Emboffs met with Finland MP Pekka
Haavisto and Antti Pentikainen, Director of the
non-governmental organization FinnChurchAid, on May 26 to
discuss rifts within the ARS. The Finns, on an independent
fact-finding mission, recently met with ARS leadership in
both Djibouti and Asmara. In all meetings, the common theme
was a strong desire for reconciliation within the ARS. The
Asmara contingent even expressed a willingness to allow UN
peacekeepers and even U.S. troops within Somalia, a previous
point of contention for the members remaining in Asmara.
GSE "Micromanaging" ARS
--------------
3. (C) ARS Chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed told Haavisto
in Djibouti that the Government of the State of Eritrea (GSE)
was obsessed with "micromanaging" the ARS, a situation which
had pushed ARS leadership away from Eritrea and towards the
UN-brokered discussions with the Transitional Federal
Government (TFG). Sharif stated his ARS contingent would
tell the Eritreans "thank you, but now it is time for us to
stand on our own two feet." Haavisto said that in subsequent
meetings, the Asmara-based ARS members also felt the GSE was
overtly meddling in ARS affairs, including actively working
to dissuade them from joining Sharif and the ARS leadership
in Djibouti to discuss reconciliation of their group.
Additionally, Yemane Ghebreab (the GSE's principal advisor on
Somalia) informed Haavisto that the ARS has officially split
and there is no reason for the membership in Asmara to travel
to Djibouti.
4. (C) To bolster its claims of a split ARS, the GSE has
employed second- and third-tier ARS members in Asmara, along
with Council of Islamic Courts (CIC) spokesperson Sheikh
Hassan Dahir Aweys, as outspoken critics of Sharif, the ARS
leadership, and the Djibouti May 10-15 talks (reftel).
Sheikh Aweys and the 2nd Vice Chair of the Central Committee
Hussein Aideed were also seated as prominent guests in the
"President's Box" during Isaias Afwerki's Liberation Day
speech on May 24.
"Aweys is the Moral Authority"
--------------
5. (C) To counter the GSE's machinations towards scuttling a
Somali reconciliation, Haavisto urged the United States to
promote Sheikh Aweys as "the glue" to unite the Djibouti and
Asmara ARS factions. According to the Finns, Aweys had
stated he would be willing to see Somali President Abdullahi
Yusuf maintain his position during a long-term peace process,
a comment which they felt demonstrated Aweys' moderate
stance. Adding that Aweys has a strong following among the
Somali diaspora, Haavisto said that many Somalis in meetings
in Asmara and Djibouti emphasized that Aweys serves as "the
moral authority" for the Somali community, and even referred
to him as "father." And Aweys' recent spate of public
statements rejecting the Djibouti talks and threatening to
replace Sheikh Sharif with a new ARS Chairman, Haavisto
attributed to GSE meddling.
6. (C) Comment: GSE opposition to the UN-sponsored talks in
Djibouti is no secret. For the Eritreans, the talks threaten
their hold on the ARS, a hold which the GSE has been trying
desperately to maintain via scare tactics and through
securing the allegiance of a number of ARS "non-players,"
particularly diaspora members such as Aideed. Still unclear
is whether the GSE has fully gained the cooperation of Sheikh
Aweys, who - chameleon-like - conveniently assumes a more
ASMARA 00000290 002 OF 002
moderate rhetoric in private conversations with foreign
interlocutors than when under the GSE's watchful gaze. End
Comment.
MCMULLEN
SIPDIS
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
DEPT FOR AF/E
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/28/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV SO ER
SUBJECT: GSE ACTIVELY SEEKS TO DIVIDE ARS
REF: ASMARA 269
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4(d)
1. (C) Summary: A Finnish Parliamentarian who recently
travelled from meetings with Alliance for the Re-Liberation
of Somalia (ARS) members in Djibouti to meet with ARS members
in Asmara emphasized that both sides expressed their desire
to reunite. However, Asmara members have been discouraged
from doing so by the Eritrean government. End Summary.
Measuring the ARS Divide
--------------
2. (C) Ambassador and Emboffs met with Finland MP Pekka
Haavisto and Antti Pentikainen, Director of the
non-governmental organization FinnChurchAid, on May 26 to
discuss rifts within the ARS. The Finns, on an independent
fact-finding mission, recently met with ARS leadership in
both Djibouti and Asmara. In all meetings, the common theme
was a strong desire for reconciliation within the ARS. The
Asmara contingent even expressed a willingness to allow UN
peacekeepers and even U.S. troops within Somalia, a previous
point of contention for the members remaining in Asmara.
GSE "Micromanaging" ARS
--------------
3. (C) ARS Chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed told Haavisto
in Djibouti that the Government of the State of Eritrea (GSE)
was obsessed with "micromanaging" the ARS, a situation which
had pushed ARS leadership away from Eritrea and towards the
UN-brokered discussions with the Transitional Federal
Government (TFG). Sharif stated his ARS contingent would
tell the Eritreans "thank you, but now it is time for us to
stand on our own two feet." Haavisto said that in subsequent
meetings, the Asmara-based ARS members also felt the GSE was
overtly meddling in ARS affairs, including actively working
to dissuade them from joining Sharif and the ARS leadership
in Djibouti to discuss reconciliation of their group.
Additionally, Yemane Ghebreab (the GSE's principal advisor on
Somalia) informed Haavisto that the ARS has officially split
and there is no reason for the membership in Asmara to travel
to Djibouti.
4. (C) To bolster its claims of a split ARS, the GSE has
employed second- and third-tier ARS members in Asmara, along
with Council of Islamic Courts (CIC) spokesperson Sheikh
Hassan Dahir Aweys, as outspoken critics of Sharif, the ARS
leadership, and the Djibouti May 10-15 talks (reftel).
Sheikh Aweys and the 2nd Vice Chair of the Central Committee
Hussein Aideed were also seated as prominent guests in the
"President's Box" during Isaias Afwerki's Liberation Day
speech on May 24.
"Aweys is the Moral Authority"
--------------
5. (C) To counter the GSE's machinations towards scuttling a
Somali reconciliation, Haavisto urged the United States to
promote Sheikh Aweys as "the glue" to unite the Djibouti and
Asmara ARS factions. According to the Finns, Aweys had
stated he would be willing to see Somali President Abdullahi
Yusuf maintain his position during a long-term peace process,
a comment which they felt demonstrated Aweys' moderate
stance. Adding that Aweys has a strong following among the
Somali diaspora, Haavisto said that many Somalis in meetings
in Asmara and Djibouti emphasized that Aweys serves as "the
moral authority" for the Somali community, and even referred
to him as "father." And Aweys' recent spate of public
statements rejecting the Djibouti talks and threatening to
replace Sheikh Sharif with a new ARS Chairman, Haavisto
attributed to GSE meddling.
6. (C) Comment: GSE opposition to the UN-sponsored talks in
Djibouti is no secret. For the Eritreans, the talks threaten
their hold on the ARS, a hold which the GSE has been trying
desperately to maintain via scare tactics and through
securing the allegiance of a number of ARS "non-players,"
particularly diaspora members such as Aideed. Still unclear
is whether the GSE has fully gained the cooperation of Sheikh
Aweys, who - chameleon-like - conveniently assumes a more
ASMARA 00000290 002 OF 002
moderate rhetoric in private conversations with foreign
interlocutors than when under the GSE's watchful gaze. End
Comment.
MCMULLEN