SOMALIA - AL-SHABAAB RAIDS UN COMPOUNDS IN WAJID

C O N F I D E N T I A L NAIROBI 001551

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/E

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/20/2019
TAGS: EAID PTER MOPS PREL SOCI SO
SUBJECT: SOMALIA - AL-SHABAAB RAIDS UN COMPOUNDS IN WAJID
AND BAIDOA; ORDERS SOME UN AGENCIES CLOSED

REF: NAIROBI 1550

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


1. (C) Summary: UNPOS Deputy Charles Petrie confirmed early
evening July 20 that al-Shabaab had declared that UNDP,
UNDSS, and UNPOS must immediately close their offices in
Somalia and were declared "enemies of Islam and Muslims."
Triggering the decision, according to an announcement
released by al-Shabaab's "Department of Political Affairs and
Regional Administrations," were the UN agencies' support for
the TFG and AMISOM, including money pledged to AMISOM under
UN auspices at the April 22 - 23 ICG in Brussels. Petrie
reported that the announcement had been accompanied by the
invasion of UN compounds in Wajid (Bakool region) and Baidoa
(Bay Region). Significantly, WFP was not included in the
al-Shabaab ban, although the forced departure of the UN
security officer in Baidoa, per UN regulation, should trigger
WFP's departure, as well. WFP-managed activities by local
partners should not be affected by al-Shabaab's decree. All
UN personnel had departed the Baidoa compound as of 1630
(local),Petrie said. (Embassy does not believe there were
any international staff present in either Wajid or Baidoa.)
It is possible that al-Shabaab's abrupt decision was
triggered by negotiations, reportedly headed by former
al-Shabaab Spokesman Mukhtar Robow, for the release of the
three Action Against Hunger employees kidnapped in Mandera,
Kenya, on July 17 (reftel). End summary.


2. (C) UNPOS Deputy Charles Petrie told Somalia Unit mid
afternoon July 20 that UN compounds in Wajid (Bakool Region)
and Baidoa (Bay Region) had been invaded by al-Shabaab. In
Wajid, they had confiscated the communications equipment,
several automobiles, and supplies. UN offices in Baidoa had
reportedly been looted, and at least some of the equipment
damaged or destroyed.


3. (SBU) At about the same time as the looting of the
compounds, al-Shabaab's "Department of Political Affairs and
Regional Administrations" issued a press release (e-mailed to
AF/E) that ordered all NGOs and foreign agencies in Somalia
to immediately contact a newly-established al-Shabaab "Office
for Supervising the Affairs of Foreign Agencies," whose
address would be provided by the regional administration in
the area where the foreign entities are operating. Any NGO
or foreign agency working "against the Somali Muslim
population and/or against the establishment of an Islamic
State will be immediately closed and dealt with according to
the evidence found."


4. (SBU) The press release also confirmed the closure of UN
organizations which are "enemies of Islam and Muslims":
UNDP, UNDSS, and UNPOS. They had been found to be providing
"training and support for the apostate government and the
training of its troops." They were as well guilty as charged
of having raised USD 250 million at the April 22 - 23
Brussels International Contact Group (ICG) meeting for the
"crusader AMISOM troops."


5. (SBU) The press release concluded by recalling the closure
of CARE and IMC, "two American agencies," who had spied "for
and aided the intelligence agencies of the enemies of Islam,"
in addition to assisting "in the assassination of Sheikh
Maalim Adam Aayrow."


6. (C) Petrie reported early evening July 20 that remaining
national UN national employees had already left the compounds
in Baidoa and Wajid. (There were reportedly no international
employees present.) Although WFP was not among the agencies
closed by al-Shabaab, UN regulations should not allow it to
operate without the presence of UN security personnel. WFP's
departure would eliminate the monitoring of food
distributions conducted by local NGO partners, but not the
distributions themselves. Also likely effected would be
UNOPS and UNICEF.


7. (C) According to Petrie, al-Shabaab had signaled its
intentions about one month ago. Petrie speculated that
al-Shabaab's decision to move to enforcement on July 20 may
have been triggered by July 17 abduction of three Action
Against Hunger (AAH) employees in Mandera, Kenya (reftel).
He thought it possible that former al-Shabaab Spokesman
Mukhtar Robow's reported efforts to effect the release of the
AAH employees in Baidoa may have crystallized efforts by
al-Shabaab hardliners to shut down UN organizations that had
worked with the TFG and, if so, were evidence that Robow's
influence was in decline. Petrie noted that Al-Shabaab

leader and hardliner Ahmed Abdi Godane was also chief of the
al-Shabaab Shura for Bay and Bakool regions, and could easily
make his will there felt.

Comment
--------------


8. (C) Embassy will canvass UN colleagues over the next few
days to find out what practical effect al-Shabaab's action
will have on the delivery of humanitarian aid and other work
by UN agencies in Somalia. With many of them having already
cut their national staffs to the minimum throughout much of
Somalia, the answer may be "not much." If multiple reports
that Robow was attempting to effect the release of the three
AAH employees, one Amcit among them, are true, then today's
action by al-Shabaab probably brings that effort to an end as
well.
ABELL