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 .