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
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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