SOMALIA - PRIME MINISTER ON MARGINS OF JUNE 9 - 10

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NAIROBI 001211

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/E

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/15/2019
TAGS: PGOV MARR MOPS PINR KDEM EAID SO
SUBJECT: SOMALIA - PRIME MINISTER ON MARGINS OF JUNE 9 - 10
ICG

REF: NAIROBI 1112

Classified By: Somalia Unit Counselor Bob Patterson. Reasons 1.4 b,d.


1. (C) Summary: In a June 9 meeting with acting Deputy
Assistant Secretary for East Africa Wykoff on the margins of
the Rome International Contact Group (ICG),TFG Prime
Minister Sharmarke attempted to portray progress on the
ground in Somalia, disputed suggestions that his government
was getting too cozy with the warlords, complained about
al-Jazeera and BBC Somalia Service coverage, and requested
USG help in procuring communications equipment and providing
training for TFG troops. He reported no progress in
negotiations with Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama'a since his last
meeting one week earlier with ADAS Wycoff in Nairobi. End
summary.

Medical Aid in Mogadishu
--------------


2. (C) In a June 9 meeting with acting Deputy Assistant
Secretary Wycoff on the margins of the Rome International
Contact Group on Somalia (ICG),TFG Prime Minister Omar
Sharmarke portrayed recent fighting in the central regions as
having inflicted heavy casualties on al-Shabaab and other
insurgents, who he said had no way to evacuate their wounded.



3. (C) TFG troops had also been wounded in the fighting,
Sharmarke said. Thirty-five had been evacuated to Kenya,
where the GOK had agreed to make available a military
hospital for their treatment. The TFG was active in efforts
to treat the civilian wounded in Mogadishu. Portions of a
twenty-two ton shipment of medical supplies recently provided
by Italy were, at TFG insistence, being supplied to all
hospitals, including those in Mogadishu territories
controlled by al-Shabaab. Doctors from a hospital in the
insurgent-controlled Dayninle region had recently been
summoned to the TFG President's compound, and told that the
TFG Ministry of Health would ensure that they received a fair
share of the Italian aid. Sharmarke was aware that
al-Shabaab fighters would be treated in Dayninle, but seemed
confident that TFG evenhandedness would only improve its
reputation with Somalis.

ASWJ and TFG Still
Not Cooperating
--------------


4. (C) Sharmarke told ADAS Wycoff that the TFG was seeking
ways to support Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama'a (ASWJ). There was no
agreement on how the organization could be incorporated into
the TFG. Motioning to the four ministers attending the
meeting with him, Sharmarke noted that "we are all members of
ASWJ." (Attending the meeting were Minister of Women and
Family Affairs Fowziya Mohamed Sheikh, Minister of Planning
and International Cooperation Abdishakur Warsame, Minister of
Environment Burci Hamza, and Minister of Posts and
Telecommunications Abdirizak Osman Jurile.) Sharmarke
praised ASWJ for its fierce fighting on June 5 in Wabho, and
reported that al-Shabaab there had requested a ceasefire; a
sign that it had sustained serious losses he thought. Much
work on improving relations with ASWJ in the central regions
remained to be done.


5. (C) Sharmarke detected as well signs that Hisbul Islam
(HI) was increasingly unhappy with al-Shabaab's tactics. He
has been told that a HI spokesman had recently denounced
al-Shabaab and, according to Sharmarke, people close to HI's
Hassan Dahir Aweys had recently been in contact with the TFG.

Claimed Successes on
the Battlefield
--------------


6. (C) In the meantime, the Prime Minister said, the TFG or
its allies had recently re-taken the Middle Shabelle capital
of Jowhar and the town of Mahaday. Minister of Security Omar
Hashi continued to recruit for the TFG in the Hiraan regional
capital of Beletweyne, with an eye to liberating Buloburti on
what Sharmarke hoped would be a march to Mogadishu.


7. (C) ADAS Wycoff briefly described his efforts, during

NAIROBI 00001211 002 OF 003


travels in the region, to mobilize support for the TFG from
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. In
addition to the USG's work to strengthen Sheikh Sharif's
government, ADAS Wycoff described the Gulf states'
willingness to pressure residents in their countries who
opposed the TFG. If the TFG had specific information about
spoilers resident there, he recommended that they supply it.

Italy More Active
on Somalia
--------------


8. (C) The Prime Minister agreed and, as he had done in
recent meetings, said that the TFG was compiling a list of
information on specific spoilers. Also, the TFG was
examining the activities of hawalas, airlines, and the Somali
telecommunications sector, in addition to attempting to
develop information on individual TFG opponents.


9. (C) In a June 9 meeting, Italian Foreign Minister Frattini
appeared "for the first time" engaged in Somali affairs. The
GOI was contemplating military training, and had agreed to
open an Embassy in Mogadishu. (The GOI representative
announced that Italy would re-establish its Embassy at end of
the June 10 session of the TFG.)

Strong USG Presence
Welcome
--------------


10. (C) Sharmarke strongly rejected suggestions that Somalis
reject too active USG engagement with the TFG. Al-Shabaab's
inability to launch a successful frontal attack on the TFG,
combined with a belief that the USG was allergic to Somalia
following the UNISOM would cause Somalis to welcome an
aggressive USG presence, he said.

TFG Needs Financial Transparency
--------------


11. (C) ADAS Wycoff strongly urged Sharmarke to enlist the
services of a major accounting firm like Price Waterhouse or
KPMG as soon as possible. Increased transparency would
improve the confidence of the international community in
Somalia, he noted. Sharmarke promised to finalize an
agreement with an accounting firm "in the next two weeks."

Controversial Warlord
Now in Cabinet
--------------


12. (C) While acknowledging that the loyalties of warlord
Indha Adde, whom Sharmarke had recently nominated to be
Minister of State for Defense under current MOD Ghandi, were
uncertain, Sharmarke hoped that Indha Adde's presence would
cause Ayer militias to defect from Hisbul Islam's Aweys.
Indha Adde brought with him an excellent understanding of the
insurgents, and "he is a fighter," Sharmarke said. To ensure
his loyalty, the TFG had confiscated Indha Adde's technicals.
Sharmarke thought that Indha Adde's official alliance with
the TFG would make it impossible for the warlord to defect to
the other side, noting that the TFG's opponents would "kill"
Indha Adde if he again attempted to change sides.


13. (C) The other Cabinet members present were clearly
unhappy with the Sharmarke's decision to include Indha Adde
in the government. In a subsequent conversation, Minister
Fowziya Mohamed Sheikh worried that Somalis would see the TFG
as like some of its warlord-dominated predecessors. She
noted that President Sharif had not yet approved Sharmarke's
nomination.

Alleged Media Bias
--------------


14. (C) The TFG had recently recruited former Reuters
correspondent Sahal Abdullah to aid its media strategy.
Sharmarke welcomed the possibility of using the VOA
transmitter in Djibouti, and spoke of linking it with Radio
Mogadishu, in order to provide the TFG with a modicum of
cover as it broadcast. A TFG media presence was necessary to
counter the negative influence of al-Jazeera and the BBC
Somalia Service. All of the Cabinet members joined Sharmarke

NAIROBI 00001211 003 OF 003


in agreeing that BBC routinely distorted events on the ground
and conducted more adversarial interviews with TFG
representatives than with its opponents.


15. (C) The TFG representatives worried that their
government's lack of sway in the telecommunications sector
meant that they had little hope of confidential
communications. All of the bandwidth in Somalia had been
allocated among the commercial firms, leaving the TFG unable
to reserve part of the spectrum for its own communications.
Lack of communications security had hampered them in fighting
in Mogadishu, they said.


16. (C) As he had in previous conversations, Sharmarke
willingly accepted any aid the USG could offer, from
military advisors to capacity-building to aid with
communications. In a one-on-one conversation with ADAS
Wycoff, Sharmarke again asked that the USG supply his
government with APCs. ADAS Wycoff asked that the TFG supply
the USG with any information it might have about foreign
fighters in Somalia.
RANNEBERGER