6TH CONFERENCE OF THE EAST AFRICA REGIONAL

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 NAIROBI 001427

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2019
TAGS: PREL PTER XW
SUBJECT: 6TH CONFERENCE OF THE EAST AFRICA REGIONAL
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE, JUNE 2, 2009

REF: STATE 049045

Classified By: POLOFF Samuel A. Madsen, reasons 1.4 b,d


1. (S/REL UK) Summary: Ambassadors from missions of the
East Africa Regional Strategic Initiative (EARSI),along with
interagency U.S. and UK government representatives, reviewed
the status of counterterrorism (CT) efforts in the East
Africa region and recommended specific measures to improve
these efforts. Most of the discussion focused on Somalia.
The participants recommended that the U.S.
Government (USG) draft a more fully developed Somalia policy,
improve and coordinate public diplomacy efforts, increase
efforts to cut off funding and other support for al-Shabaab
militants in Somalia, and increase support to the Somali
Transitional Federal Government (TFG). They also recommended
that the U.S. and UK governments work to improve their
cooperative CT efforts in the region and that the USG work
more closely to support the CT efforts of regional bodies,
particularly the African Union (AU) and the Intergovernmental
Authority on Development (IGAD). End Summary.


2. (U) The U.S. Ambassadors to Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and
Yemen, the Charges d,Affaires at the embassies in Mauritius
and Tanzania, representatives from the U.S. Embassies in
Uganda, Sudan and the Nairobi based Somalia Unit, senior
State Department and interagency officials met on June 2nd in
Nairobi, Kenya to discuss measures to defeat terrorism in
East Africa. USG agencies represented included State (S/CT,
AF, DS/ATA and INR/TNC),DoD (AFRICOM, SOCAFRICA, and
CJTF-HOA),USAID, DHS, NCTC and DoJ. Specially invited
representatives from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
and Ministry of Defense also participated.

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Somalia
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3. (S/REL UK) The conference presenters and participants
discussed three principal subject areas, primarily focusing
on Somalia. State Acting AF DAS Karl Wycoff said the U.S. has
a developing
Somalia policy and it has two immediate priorities : 1)
Support the TFG and 2) Counter al-Shabaab and other terrorist
elements in Somalia. The conference participants expressed a
desire to see a clarification of U.S. policy toward Somalia.
(NOTE: copies of both the most recent Somalia Policy document
and of the most recent version of the East Africa Counter
Terrorism Strategy will be sent to posts for their
information and comment. End Note.)


4. (S/REL UK) Participants agreed on the need for more
attention to Somalia and expressed concern that there is no
"Plan B" for the current U.S. policy. If the TFG falls there
is no viable back-up plan for stabilizing Somalia, which
worries other governments in the region. On a positive note,
Ambassador Ranneberger noted that since at least 1991 no
government in Somalia has had as much
legitimacy as the current TFG.


5. (S/REL UK) Ambassadors considered the question of how
open and vocal USG support for the TFG should be and
recommended that our support be more visible. They also
agreed that USG public diplomacy and strategic communications
efforts must be improved. Ambassador Ranneberger noted that
the Embassy Nairobi Media Information Support Team (MIST) is
providing support to the TFG, but stated that more should be
done in our public outreach efforts overall. Ambassadors
again underscored that robust press guidance (Stratcom) must
be available for the missions to use immediately following
any USG kinetic action in Somalia - a point they had strongly
endorsed during the last RSI conference. Such public
diplomacy will prevent violent extremists from defining any
such incident in ways that foster radicalization and

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undermine popular perceptions of the United States in the
region.
Ambassadors discussed whether the U.S. should broaden
kinetic strikes beyond al-Qa,ida linked High Value Targets
to include foreign fighters and training camps inside Somalia
when necessary and feasible, noting that the TFG supports
such actions. S/CT and AF/DAS noted that decisions on
kinetic strikes will be made by D committee meetings of
principals.


6. (S/REL UK) RSI participants acknowledged that cutting off
financial and other support to Al Shabaab is crucial. The
group reportedly receives funds from supporters in the UK,
Canada and other countries. Eritrea, which continues to be a
major financial supporter despite its own severe economic
situation, receives financial support from Qatar, Libya and
Sudan. The participants agreed that diplomatic efforts to
eliminate these sources of funding should be pursued.


7. (S/REL UK) The conference noted that regional states have
stepped up efforts to support the TFG. For example, Kenya is
offering to provide basic military training to TFG forces.
However, while East African governments are deeply concerned
about Somalia, they place even greater emphasis on security,
rule of law, economic development and food insecurity in
their bilateral relations with the U.S.


8. (S/REL UK) Ambassador Yamamoto asked whether the $500,000
passed to the TFG was accurately accounted for and Embassy
Nairobi and AF/DAS replied that an accounting had been
obtained: arms were procured locally, salaries to TFG troops
paid and provisions and supplies purchased, according to the
documentation provided. But Ambassador Yamamoto questioned
whether arms procurement was militarizing Somalia, a negative
factor for a country with far too many weapons at the outset.
Rather than additional arms and munitions, providing
increased humanitarian assistance, capacity building and
putting structures in place were more critical. Further, new
approaches such as supporting TFG-ASWJ rapprochement could be
helpful. USAID Nairobi described a robust humanitarian
program in place. Several of the participants commented that
we could do better at publicizing our humanitarian and
developmental efforts.

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US/UK Cooperation
--------------


9. (S/REL UK) The UK representatives underscored that East
Africa remains a CT priority for their government and
indicated that East Africans are involved in terror plots in
the U.K. They described their government,s flagship
prevention program to identify vulnerabilities for
radicalization among populations. The program is conducted
on a bilateral basis by UK diplomatic posts within the
region. Key features of the program are as follows:

- Each post identifies likely drivers of extremism in
their country;
- Public opinion polling establishes a baseline on trends
towards radicalization;
- The mission develops a three year plan for projects to
address identified grievances;
- Posts then assess the impact of those projects
utilizing the polling baseline and follow-up
polls.


10. (S/REL UK) The participants agreed that U.S. and UK
cooperation was good in the region and recommended experts in
their respective capitals and in the region should meet
together to share lessons learned. The UK participants noted
that they had developed points on how to talk with
various segments of the Somali community in the UK. U.S.
participants noted that the FBI was active with our Somali

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community, and we agreed to exchange information on this
issue.

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Increasing regional cooperation
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11. (S/REL UK) Given that the AU and IGAD have recently
issued statements condemning al-Shabaab and calling for
sanctions against it, RSI Ambassadors believe more can and
should be done to cooperate with these agencies to promote
support for the Somali TFG as well as efforts to stabilize
Somalia. According to the participants, host governments are
considering more assistance for the TFG. They
recommended that during the next IGAD Ministerial the USG
seek concurrence from participating ministers (plus Yemen) to
build regional cooperation against the threat of terrorism
emanating from Somalia. The participants suggested that the
USG propose joint efforts in several areas:

- Intelligence fusion
- Terrorist travel information sharing (including sharing
of PISCES data)
- Interdicting cash and other flows (including foreign
fighters) to al Shabaab (including
information sharing on means of cash delivery)
- expanded outreach to Somali Diaspora communities in the
U.S., Europe and within the region


12. (S/REL UK) The Ambassadors recommended that the USG
conduct an interagency assessment of any technical areas of
cooperation with the goal of establishing baseline
capabilities, identifying current regional cooperation in
these areas, and charting potential ways forward. Once the
assessments are complete the USG should work to develop a
regional implementation plan.

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Additional issues
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13. (S/REL UK) The Chiefs of Mission reiterated the urgent
need for more effective Public Diplomacy and Strategic
Communications efforts in order to get the U.S. government,s
message across to the population of the region, repeating a
point made at the last two RSI conferences.


14. (S/REL UK) The participants also noted the need for
effective and frequent communications between the various
U.S. missions in the region regarding the situation in
Somalia and other CT issues. Since a lot of good information
does not make it into the formal reporting channels, broader
information sharing can improve everyone,s ability to
understand ongoing events.


15. (U) Participating RSI Chiefs of Mission have reviewed
this cable prior to transmission, except for Embassies Dar es
Salaam and Kampala, which did not have the opportunity to do
so.
RANNEBERGER