THREATS AGAINST WORLD FOOD PROGRAM IN ETHIOPIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ADDIS ABABA 003067

SIPDIS

USAID FOR AFR/EA HELLYER AND DALTON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/30/2019
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV ET
SUBJECT: THREATS AGAINST WORLD FOOD PROGRAM IN ETHIOPIA

Classified By: CDA Tulinabo Mushingi for Reasons 1.4 b/d.


1. (C) SUMMARY. World Food Program (WFP) officials in
Ethiopia have reported to U.S. Mission officials that three
threats have been communicated to WFP staff during December
by individuals claiming to be members of the Ogaden National
Liberation Front (ONLF). Each of the communications was a
threat that if WFP failed to stop using Ethiopian National
Defense Forces (ENDF) to deliver food aid, ONLF would take
action against WFP staff and operations. In response, WFP
has suspended operations in four areas of the Somali Region
of Ethiopia, which translates to a 30 percent reduction in
the distribution of food aid affecting 575,000 people.
Involved WFP staff have been pulled back to the city of
Jijiga where they will remain until January 15. Those staff
report that the threats were the latest manifestation of an
increasingly tense atmosphere in the region as ENDF and ONLF
jousting brings each regularly into the proximity of WFP's
operations. WFP has never requested ENDF escorts and often
finds their Government of Ethiopia (GOE)-mandated presence to
be counterproductive. WFP will re-evaluate the situation in
mid-January and, in the meantime, will seek GOE intervention
with ENDF and will also seek guidance from its New York
headquarters. WFP senior officials in Ethiopia indicate they
will continue to brief USAID Ethiopia officials on the
situation in the Somali Region, but have expressly asked that
the USG take no action at this time. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) In several conversations and one comprehensive meeting
with several USAID Ethiopia staff, WFP Director and Deputy
Director for Ethiopia (Strictly Protect Both) and other WFP
staff reported three threats, one in New York and two in
Ethiopia, from individuals claiming to be members of the
ONLF. WFP tells us that the New York and first Ethiopia
threats were delivered on December 14, the New York threat
being against the United Nations generally and the Ethiopia
threat specific to WFP. Both threats warned that continued
use of ENDF escorts when delivering food aid in Ethiopia
would lead to ONLF action against UN/WFP staff and
operations. The New York threat reportedly was delivered by
phone and the Ethiopia threat by an individual who stopped a
WFP vehicle in the woreda of Warder (municipality equivalent)
in Ethiopia's Somalia Region. WFP added that essentially the
same threat was conveyed on December 18 when another WFP
vehicle was stopped in Fik, also in the Somali Region.


3. (C) In response to these three threats, WFP has suspended
operations, in whole or in part, in four Somalia Region
woredas with heavy ONLF presence -- Fik, Warder, Degebur, and
Korahe. WFP food is delivered to 575,000 people in those
locations. The suspension will continue until January 15,
when it will be reassessed. In the meantime, affected WFP
staff have been relocated to the city of Jijiga.


4. (C) More generally, WFP staff in Somali Region report a
tense atmosphere over the past six months, with ENDF and
quasi-independent local militias often insisting that food be
unloaded at woreda capitals rather than at local food
distribution points with the result that troops are able to
take advantage of decreased WFP oversight to more
aggressively divert the assistance and confiscate a cut for
themselves. WFP reports that ONLF, probably in response to
the heavy-handedness of the ENDF and militias, has also
become more aggressive over the past three months.
Previously, ONLF would stop unescorted WFP only to chat
whereas more recently, as the December incidents illustrate,
WFP staff may be ordered from their vehicles for questioning.



5. (C) WFP has for years believed that ENDF military escorts
for WFP food deliveries are unnecessary to its efforts in
Somali Region and are often counterproductive, even aside
from their obvious recent provocation of the ONLF. For
example, 60 food delivery trucks have been idle for the last
few weeks for lack of available escorts. WFP finds this type
of logistic bottleneck to be commonplace and compounded by
issues of command-and-control and corruption. The GOE,
however, insists on the escorts and has recently taken to
expanding the area in which they are mandatory. WFP has asked
its primary GOE interlocutor, the state minister for disaster
management, to intervene to reduce the area in which escorts
are required and to allow WFP to contract for security

ADDIS ABAB 00003067 002 OF 002


outside the ENDF. The minister has agreed to travel to the
region to meet with military commanders.


6. (C) WFP is reluctant to discuss the recent threats
directly with the ONLF and is seeking guidance from its UN
headquarters in New York on next steps. NOTE: Although WFP
senior officials in Ethiopia have been anxious to share
information with USAID staff, they have strongly impressed on
Post that they are not asking for USG intervention at this
time. END NOTE.
MUSHINGI