EU CLOSE TO LAUNCHING A SOMALIA SECURITY FORCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001346

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/02/2019
TAGS: MOPS MARR SO XW EUN
SUBJECT: EU CLOSE TO LAUNCHING A SOMALIA SECURITY FORCE
TRAINING MISSION

REF: USEU BRUSSELS 886

Classified By: Pol M-C Christopher Davis for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C//NF) Summary: In November, EU Foreign and Defense
Ministers may approve an operation to train Somali National
Security Forces in Djibouti or Uganda. On September 18, EU
Political and Security Committee (PSC) Ambassadors tasked the
EU Council Secretariat to make specific recommendations to
them. The idea of building the French training mission into
an ESDP one appears to have gained traction among EU Defense
Ministers at their recent informal meeting. The
Secretariat's Didier Lenoir, recently returned from East
Africa, told PolOff that the Secretariat would probably
recommend that a training mission for Somali forces be held
in Uganda. Our contacts suggest that if UK reluctance to act
quickly can be overcome, the November GAERC could launch
formal planning processes. The U.S. can influence the EU's
decision if we weigh in soon with specific recommendations
for EU training efforts. End Summary.

FRENCH PROPOSAL GAINING TRACTION


2. (C//NF) Since June, France has been pressing to
"Europeanize" its own training program for Somali forces in
Djibouti (REF),a proposal that gained support at the
informal EU Defense Ministerial in Gothenburg, Sweden on
September 28-29. There, French Defense Minister Herve Morin
briefed on France's bilateral training program for 500 Somali
troops. Following the discussion, German Defense Minister
Jung told the press he supports the French initiative.
German contacts in Brussels tell us Berlin supports a
training operation as long as it would be a new mission, not
an extension of the EU's counter-piracy mandate. According
to a Council Secretariat press release, EU High Rep Solana
encouraged defense ministers in Gothenburg to train Somali
military forces via an ESDP mission, and encouraged them to
reach a decision "in the near future." Luxembourg's Deputy
EU Permanent Representative, Jean-Claude Meyer (strictly
protect),told PolOff on October 1 that Member States have
not yet reached consensus on a new mission, but may do so by
the November foreign and defense ministerial.

UK HOLDING OUT...FOR NOW


3. (C//NF) The UK, the major holdout, opposes a quick
decision to launch an ESDP mission. On October 1, Duncan
McCombie (protect),the UK's representative to the EU's
Pol-Mil Working Group, told PolOff that London wants the EU
to take action, but not rush. The UK is recommending that
the EU wait until the conclusion of the UN/U.S.-led
assessment mission in Nairobi before taking a decision.
However, McCombie said the UK would not be able to postpone
EU discussions until November, when that assessment mission
releases its final report. In fact, EU PSC Ambassadors will
visit Addis Ababa and Djibouti on October 10-12, meeting with
the AU Peace and Security Council on October 12. That visit,
McCombie surmised, will create momentum for EU action on
Somalia. He suggested that Foreign and Defense Ministers
would probably initiate formal planning processes for an ESDP
mission at their November meeting (the GAERC),and
acknowledged that it would make sense for the UN/U.S.-led
mission to release preliminary conclusions on military
training soon, so as to inform those deliberations.

SECRETARIAT TO RECOMMEND TRAINING MISSION: UGANDA VS. PUNTLAND


4. (C) On September 29, PolOff discussed a potential ESDP
Somalia training mission with Didier Lenoir, head of the
military operations and exercises unit in the EU Council
Secretariat. Lenoir recently returned from a fact-finding
mission in eastern Africa where he looked at options for an
EU training program. He cautioned that, before providing
basic training to Somali troops, it would be better to have
in place a framework for vetting, command and control, and
administration, which is also a concern expressed regularly
by the Swedish pol-mil counselor. That said, Lenoir averred
that the EU cannot wait for all of those structures to be in
place before initiating a training mission. Lenoir

BRUSSELS 00001346 002 OF 002


recommends Uganda, the cost of the French effort in Djibouti
being much higher. Lenoir suggested considering U.S. and EU
cooperation, with the U.S. providing logistical support to an
EU training mission. The UK's Duncan McCombie said the
Council Secretariat is discussing working with the
Commission, whereby the Commission's Africa Peace Facility
would fund the infrastructure and logistics for a training
mission. McCombie added that Lenoir's plan for an ESDP
mission in Uganda would likely win more support than the
proposal backed by HR Solana's Africa peacekeeping adviser
Pierre-Michel Joana, who favors a mission in Puntland.
(Note: Lenoir, a savvy operator in the EU system, was a key
actor in forming the EU's successful counter-piracy mission.
End Note.)


5. (C//NF) Comment: The November GAERC would be the
logical time for the EU to roll out a new ESDP mission, since
it will bring Foreign and Defense Ministers together for
their once-a-semester joint meeting. Member States may well
bless at least formal planning processes at that time. With
the PSC and its subordinate working groups taking up the
issue, and the Council Secretariat making its final
recommendation to the PSC, all in October, the time for us to
influence the timing and shape of the EU's mission, should we
want to, is now, The ongoing Washington-Brussels-Nairobi
working-level dialogue is one venue for us to influence the
specifics of the EU's mission. Higher level engagement and
demarches in capitals laying out U.S. goals regarding a
potential EU mission could also help Member States reach
consensus and raise the level of EU ambition for the project.
End Comment.

MURRAY
.