SOMALIA - TFG PRESIDENT, PRIME MINISTER, SPEAKER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 002554 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/E E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/05/2018 TAGS: PGOV PINR SO SUBJECT: SOMALIA - TFG PRESIDENT, PRIME MINISTER, SPEAKER STILL AT LOGGERHEADS REF: NAIROBI 2543 Classified By: Classified by Counselor for Somalia Affairs Bob Patterso n. Reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (C) Summary: On the eve of his departure for London to present a new cabinet for approval by President Yusuf, Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein "Nur Adde" described continuing strife within the Transitional Federal Government leadership and efforts by President Yusuf to block progress in the creation of a unity government. In a separate meeting, Parliament Speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur "Madobe" echoed many of the Prime Minister's criticisms of Yusuf, and alleged that the President was attempting to prevent the Parliament from convening in an effort to stymie the creation of a new government. Both the Prime Minister and the Speaker praised efforts of Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia (ARS) Chairman Sheikh Sharif Ahmed to stump for the new unity government in Somalia (reftel). They asked the USG to pressure Yusuf to accept, or at least not resist, the Djibouti Process. ARS Central Committee Chairman Sharif Hassan Aden separately reported that his faction was anxious to move the Djibouti Process forward, but lacked a capable partner in the TFG. End summary. President Seen As Obstacle -------------- ¶2. (C) A typically subdued TFG Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein "Nur Adde" described to us at length his efforts to induce TFG President Abdullahi Yusuf to agree to a reconstituted TFG cabinet and to build a government of national unity as called for in the October 26 Djibouti declaration. In the Prime Minister's telling, Yusuf was constitutionally "worried and afraid of change," yet "unhappy with the Parliament, the Speaker, and with me." Adding to Yusuf's unhappiness, the PM said, were efforts to create a TFG - ARS unity government. Yusuf allegedly termed the ARS a "Hawiye only" alliance that did not deserve to be the TFG's equal partner. Prime Minister - President Consultations On New Cabinet -------------- ¶3. (C) Since the close of the October 28 - 20 IGAD Summit, the Prime Minister had been in intensive consultations with clan elders and had assembled a new cabinet, which he would present for President Yusuf's approval when he traveled to London on November 5. (Yusuf has been in London for his semi-annual medical exam since November 3.) The cabinet Nur Adde was proposing did not include ARS representatives. Nur Adde suggested later in the conversation that it would be an interim cabinet that would, in time, be replaced by a new, unity cabinet. His goal was to nudge Yusuf toward acceptance of a unity cabinet by first getting him to approve a less controversial team, and to use that TFG cabinet to improve the TFG's hand in its negotiations with the ARS. ¶4. (C) Nur Adde did not believe that Yusuf would show any more flexibility than he had in the past. He thought that the President would continue to stonewall any effort by the TFG to stand up a working government, and that Yusuf would be even less inclined to aid in the creation of a TFG - ARS unity government. ¶5. (C) Nur Adde contrasted the continuing strife within his TFG with the unity among members of the Djibouti ARS, which "was ready for power-sharing discussions." The ARS understood the need to "aggressively implement what had been agreed in Djibouti," he said, while Yusuf was preoccupied with ousting the Speaker and neutralizing the Prime Minister. The Speaker, and many members of parliament, for their part hoped to impeach Yusuf. Parliament Speaker Also Notes Lack of TFG Cooperation -------------- ¶6. (C) In a separate meeting, Speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur "Madobe" readily agreed that President Yusuf and he were at loggerheads, noted that Yusuf and Nur Adde "did not see eye-to-eye on the composition of the cabinet," and alleged that continued strife within the TFG was playing into the hands of "militants" in Somalia. Madobe and the Prime Minister thought that Yusuf was encouraging members of parliament to travel to Mogadishu instead of Baidoa as a way NAIROBI 00002554 002 OF 002 of preventing the parliament from having a quorum and attempting to remove the President or ratify a unity government. Like Nur Adde, Madobe urged the international community to pressure Yusuf to cooperate in the creation of a unity government. ARS In Search of a Partner -------------- ¶7. (C) ARS Central Committee Chairman Sharif Hassan Aden separately expressed to us his impatience with the TFG, which was "not ready to go forward." Following the signing of the October 29 unity government declaration, the ARS had proposed to the TFG that the parliament be expanded to allow the ARS to be represented, but the TFG was "hesitant to vacate its seats," or see its influence reduced, and President Yusuf would likely not accept an expanded Parliament. TFG members of the High-Level Committee, which had been meeting in Nairobi since November 2 were similarly reluctant to have substantive discussions. The ARS would like to see the October 29 cessation of hostilities agreement implemented, Sharif Hassan said. He welcomed positive Government of Ethiopia statements about the agreements and hoped that the GOE would actively back efforts to effect a ceasefire. ¶8. (C) Sharif Hassan reported that ARS Chairman Sheikh Sharif's current visit to Jowhar and Beletweyne was meeting with support, but warned that Eritrea "continued to back the spoilers" of the Djibouti process. He urged more aggressive support of the Djibouti Process from the international community, and also identified President Yusuf as the key obstacle to progress on a unity government. Comment -------------- ¶9. (C) In its conversations, Embassy stressed the need of all parties to table and negotiate concrete proposals instead of doing nothing in anticipation of potential negative responses from their counterparts. The unified ARS-Djibouti contingent seemed genuinely anxious to use the window of opportunity provided by the unity declaration to make concrete progress before enthusiasm for a unity government waned in Somalia. Nur Adde, Madobe, and Sharif Hassan all urged that the international community, and the USG in particular, pressure President Yusuf to end his resistance to a unity government, and to allow the Djibouti Process to go forward. In addition to pressure from the heads of the TFG, its Speaker, and its new coalition partner (ARS),UN Special Representative Ould-Abdallah told us he had urged Yusuf before his November 4 departure for London to allow a unity government to be formed. Ould-Abdallah alleged that Yusuf was under increasing pressure from his own clan and from his inner circle, including his wife, to leave. The President, however, remained contemptuous of his opponents and had been bolstered by his success in withstanding the pressure put on him by Ethiopia during the October 28 - 29 IGAD Summit. It is unlikely that increasingly unanimous dissatisfaction among his would-be allies will change Yusuf's mind. RANNEBERGER