SOMALIA: IGAD SUMMIT URGES TFG ACTION ON DAY ONE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 002469 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/E E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV SOCI SO ET SUBJECT: SOMALIA: IGAD SUMMIT URGES TFG ACTION ON DAY ONE REF: DJIBOUTI 840 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The October 28 - 29 IGAD Extraordinary Council and Summit Meeting on Somalia was largely behind closed doors on its opening day. In presentations between closed sessions with Somalia's President, Prime Minister, Speaker, and parliamentarians, the Kenyan Foreign Minister, IGAD Executive Secretary, UN Syg's Special Representative for Somalia (SRSG),IGAD Partnership Forum Chair, and AU representative praised the October 26 TFG-ARS signing of a unity government declaration and cessation of hostilities agreement (reftel) and urged the TFG to produce concrete accomplishments in the last ten months of its mandate. All of the speakers mentioned piracy and increasing violence in Somalia as evidence of the country's continued implosion. They promised that the IGAD event would support the Djibouti Process, and thanked the SRSG for his efforts in furthering it. The speeches began almost one and one-half hours behind schedule, suggesting that the initial conversation between the President, Prime Minister, and Speaker had not gone smoothly. Day two will see more behind-the-scenes negotiations and speeches by, among others, Kenyan President Kibaki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles. End summary. Extended, Closed-Door Meeting -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The opening session of the IGAD Extraordinary Council and Summit Meeting on Somalia was conducted largely behind closed doors October 28. A planned, a two hour conversation of IGAD member state representatives, the IGAD Partnership Forum Chair, and the UN Special Representative for Somalia with the Transitional Federal Government President, Prime Minister, and Speaker lasted almost three and one-half hours, which sparked rumors that President Abdullahi Yusuf and TFP Speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur "Madobe" remained at loggerheads and/or that President Yusuf had reservations about the agreements reached the weekend before in Djibouti. Kenyan FM Criticized TFG, Welcomes October 26 Djibouti Agreements -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The delayed meeting of the Council of Ministers opened with a speech by GOK host, Foreign Minister Wetangula, who noted the danger posed to regional stability by continued chaos in Somalia. Wetangula registered GOK disappointment with the TFG which, he said, had put "war profiteering and internal competition ahead of nation-building." The TFG had "accomplished little in the four years of its mandate" and needed to cease being a "talk shop," the Foreign Minister concluded. Still, Wetangula praised the October 26 TFG - ARS (Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia) unity government declaration and cessation of hostilities agreement and promised that IGAD would support and not compete with the Djibouti Process. He urged financial and logistical support for AMISOM and the rapid deployment of a UN peacekeeping force. ¶4. (SBU) Other speakers largely seconded the themes outlined by Wetangula. IGAD Executive Secretary Maalim was harder on the international community, whose responses to Somalia's problems he termed "not timely and half-hearted." Later in his speech, however, he noted that "ultimate responsibility lies firmly in the hands of the Somalis." SRSG Ould-Abdallah also scored the international community's "failure to put into place, support, and deliver services," but the bulk of his remarks were focused more on consolidating the fragile achievements of the TFG, especially the October 26 Djibouti agreements. IGAD Partnership Forum Chairman, Italian Senator Raffaelli, who had long been critical of the SRSG's efforts, praised Ould-Abdullah for the October 26 breakthrough, but worried that little had changed on the ground, and that the number of refugees and IDPs was increasing. ¶5. (SBU) TFG Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Jama chose to largely ignore the criticisms leveled at his government. He praised GOE defense forces' support for Somalia, called the Djibouti Process the "most viable and realistic" plan for reconciliation in Somalia, and urged further international community efforts against piracy. Comment -------------- NAIROBI 00002469 002 OF 002 ¶6. (SBU) An extended, closed-door session with IGAD representatives, members of parliament, and the government is still under way as of this writing. On October 29 IGAD heads of state will meet and hold and further private meetings with the TFG. Many TFG parliamentarians present continued to believe that they had been convened to remove the President, and had allegedly submitted to IGAD a petition, signed by two hundred MPs urging his ouster, but other observers believed that the progress provided by the October 26 Djibouti declaration and agreement might have created enough momentum for the TFG to block that impulse. RANNEBERGER