SOMALI TALKS IN TURKEY: TANZANIA PROPOSES TO DEFER

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAR ES SALAAM 000869

SIPDIS

AF/E FOR JTREADWELL, PFIERST

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/16/2019
TAGS: PREL ER SO TU TZ
SUBJECT: SOMALI TALKS IN TURKEY: TANZANIA PROPOSES TO DEFER

REF: A. A: SECSTATE 123692

B. B: DAR ES SALAAM 516

Classified By: Ambassador Alfonso Lenhardt for reasons 1.4 (b/d)


1. (C) Summary. FM Membe, on receipt of ref a points from
Ambassador Lenhardt, agreed to call the Turkish FM to defer a
planned meeting involving the foreign ministers of Turkey,
Tanzania, Eritrea and Somalia, which had been planned to take
place in Ankara in January. Membe requested an update on the
Djibouti Peace Process to share with President Kikwete.
Membe said Tanzania's offer to train Somali troops remained
on the table, if Somalia could offer a cross-clan list of
trainees (and if the U.S. would contribute financially). End
Summary.


2. (C) Describing the background of Tanzania's involvement in
the proposed foreign ministers' meeting, Membe said there had
been a hot debate during the July AU Summit over IGAD's
proposal to impose sanctions on Eritrea for its support of
Al-Shabaab. Membe related that after several hours of
debate, during which the Eritrean delegation was booed down
every time it tried to take the floor, President Kikwete
suggested that Eritrea be given the opportunity to defend
itself. After hearing the Eritrean side, Kikwete argued that
it would be premature for the AU to sanction Eritrea without
first sending a team to review the situation. Membe said the
Eritrean FM visited Tanzania in August with documentation in
defense of its contention that it was not supporting
Al-Shabaab. The Eritrean FM told him that Tanzania "was the
only country willing to listen." President Kikwete, after
meeting the Eritrean FM, proposed that the AU convene a joint
meeting with Eritrea, Somalia and IGAD.


3. (C) Membe said the Turkish FM approached him in New York
in September and sought Tanzanian involvement in a meeting
with the Eritrean and Somali FMs. His Turkish counterpart
told him Tanzania was the only AU country interested in
following the issue, thus Turkey wanted Tanzania involved in
negotiations. The Turks planned for a meeting in December,
subsequently pushed back to January in Ankara, with the
intent to review issues in advance of the next AU Summit at
the end of January.


4. (SBU) Ambassador Lenhardt noted our concern that a
separate process could undermine progress through the
Djibouti Peace Process (DPP),as well as our concerns about
Eritrea's support for Al-Shabaab.


5. (C) On hearing our concerns, Membe immediately offered to
call his Turkish counterpart to recommend deferring
indefinitely the planned four-way meeting and to allow the
DPP to reach its outcome. Membe requested us to provide a
progress report on the DPP prior to the AU summit, so that he
could relay it to President Kikwete. (Comment: Membe appeared
to have little awareness of the DPP.)


6. (C) Membe told Ambassador Lenhardt Tanzania's offer to
train one thousand Somali soldiers remained open. He said
the TFG had never been able to provide a list of trainees
from across clans. Tanzania wanted to avoid training troops
from a single clan and in effect empowering a warlord. He
added that if the TFG came up with a list of soldiers,
Tanzania would look to the U.S. for a contribution to support
the training. (Note: An earlier U.S. offer to support such
training stalled in part because Tanzania did not obtain from
the TFG a list of soldiers to be vetted. See ref b. End
Note.) Membe also remarked that Tanzania had encouraged
Nigeria, Senegal, Malawi and Ghana to send troops to Somalia.
LENHARDT