POST-JUNE 9 COMMENTS ON DJIBOUTI PEACE AGREEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L DJIBOUTI 000528 SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/EX CJTF-HOA FOR POLAD LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHER E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2013 TAGS: PREL PGOV AU ER SO DJ SUBJECT: POST-JUNE 9 COMMENTS ON DJIBOUTI PEACE AGREEMENT REF: NAIROBI 1455 Classified By: Chargee d'Affaires Kathleen List for reasons 1.4 b,d. ¶1. (U) The walls surrounding the Palestinian Embassy in Djibouti city are festooned with photographs of Yasser Arafat, as are the interior hallways of the Embassy, where CDA and Conoff paid a courtesy call on the Palestinian Ambassador to Djibouti, Kamel Abdallah Gazzaz, June 16 at his request. The Ambassador is Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Djibouti and has been in country for six years. He worked in Somalia from 1985-1994 in Mogadishu, and after the Oslo Accord of 1994, worked in his country,s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Africa Department, specializing in issues concerning the Horn of Africa. At the beginning of July he will be accredited to the Comoros, still resident in Djibouti. He has three children, the youngest of whom is 13 years old. He will be leaving soon for summer break in Ramallah, but his wife,s family is in Hebron, the West Bank. In the early 1990s, the Ambassador stated that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) decided to close twenty of its Embassies world-wide for financial reasons, but maintained Embassies in Muslim countries such as the Sudan, Yeman, Oman, and Mauritania. They currently have 85 Embassies operating. ¶2. (C) The Ambassador claims to know the Somali people well and knows, based on his engagements with both parties during the Junre 9-concluded Djibouti peace talks, that the Somalis now sincerely want peace. He said some of the tensions between the Darod and Hawiye date back to Siad Barre time. When Barre was deposed, outsiders came into Mogadishu and took over properties belonging to members of Barre,s ruling party. How does current leadership now resolve these ownership problems, he asked, a problem of an offense by one clan to another that needs reparation of some kind. More current preoccupations, however, involve the 6 million Somalis in the diaspora -- what role they will play -- and what role are they currently playing -- university professors, journalists, writers, etc. in bringing peace to Somalia. ¶3. (C) The United Nations has 120 days from the signing of the peace accord to authorize and deploy an international stabilization force, during which period the Ethiopian Government will withdraw its troops from Somalia (based on the successful deployment of UN troops). Abdallah said the peace accord will not stand if the US does not support it by providing food supplies immediately (the US already provides quite massive amounts of food and non-food items through the World Food Program and numerous Non-Governmental Organizations) and helping to organize other nations to pay for the disarmament of Somalis (our understanding of any PeaceKeeping Operations likely to be authorized by the UN Security Council would probably not be tasked to collect arms). If the tribes see that the US supports the peace process, they will impose order on their people and insist the weapons be turned over to the UN forces. Abdallah appealed to the US to announce its continued help to the Somali people in the peace process (we did so in our press guidance after the signing of the Djibouti agreement, which clearly indicated our continuing support for the Agreement). Once the Middle East is sure the US supports the process, &all Gulf countries will invest in Somalia,8 rebuilding the infrastructure destroyed by eighteen years of war. He stated three more times that the peace process depends on the public and continued involvement of the US Government. ¶4. (C ) In a brief meeting with Saudi Ambassador Abdoulaziz Ben Mohamed Al-Aifan, he told CDA Saudi Arabia looks forward to working with the USG to help reconstruct Somalia. He said "there is a chance now -- there are some difficulties, of course -- but there is a real chance now for peace." ¶5. (U) This cable was cleared by Ambassador John Yates. LIST