SOMALIA - TFG MILITARY RECRUIT TRAINING IN DJIBOUTI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NAIROBI 001966 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/E E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2019 TAGS: MARR PREL PGOV PTER MOPS SO SUBJECT: SOMALIA - TFG MILITARY RECRUIT TRAINING IN DJIBOUTI REF: A. DJIBOUTI 881 ¶B. DJIBOUTI 95O ¶C. DJIBOUTI 1099 ¶D. DJIBOUTI 1103 Classified By: Somalia Unit Counselor Bob Patterson for reasons 1.4(b,d ). ¶1. (C) Summary: During the week that ended on September 11, 463 Somali military recruits concluded eight weeks of basic training by the Djiboutian Armed Forces (FAD)at Djibouti's primary military education center. ONE hundred fifty Somali military recruits (including 10 officers) also concluded six weeks of basic training by the French Forces in Djibouti (FFDJ) at the FFDJ training center in Djibouti during that same week. The success of both training efforts exceeded the expectations of all parties involved. The FFDJ-trained group will join the FAD-trained group during the week beginning September 14 for an additional three weeks of joint training. The FAD expects to train approximately 540 more recruits and the FFDJ expects to train approximately 350 more recruits as soon as possible after this first group returns to Mogadishu. This Djiboutian/French effort represents a key step forward in coordinating regional and international efforts to create institutions that can support Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and merits continuing USG support. End summary. -------------- THE INITIAL TRAINING PLAN -------------- ¶2. (C) Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh and TFG President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed agreed during Spring 2009 that the FAD would provide eight weeks of basic training for 1000 Somali recruits and VIP protection training for 200 Somali recruits in Djibouti. The 100 recruits would be trained in two roughly equal tranches, ONE beginning during July 2009 and ONE beginning during October 2009. The VIP protection training would be done in ONE tranche, from January-March 2010. President Sharif also requested that the FFDJ provide six weeks of basic training to 500 recruits in Djibouti. The 500 recruits would be trained in ONE tranche, beginning during October 2009. ¶3. (C) During subsequent conversations with the USG and other donors, FAD personnel proposed the GODJ-sponsored training take place at its facility at Ali Sabieh, south of Djibouti city near the Djibouti-Somalia-Ethiopia tri-border area. However, the facility was so derelict that it would take more than six months to renovate, thus delaying training until early 2010. The FAD,s second proposal was to build a new camp for the recruits in Assa-Gueya; however, the time needed to build a new camp and support infrastructure would delay training well into 2010. FAD personnel finally settled on training the recruits at its existing flagship military education center, the Ecole Militaire at Hol Hol (45 KM southwest from Djibouti City on the Djibouti City-Addis Ababa railway),after deconflicting previously-scheduled training for participants in the GODJ's voluntary national service program (SNA). The FFDJ sent its TFG recruits (primarily Hawiye) to its training facility at Marian (just outside of Arta, 36 KM west of Djibouti City),as that center is the FFDJ training facility where the climate, terrain and accommodations best mirror that in the greater Mogadishu area. -------------- RECRUIT ARRIVAL/SCREENING/HOUSING/EQUIPPING -------------- ¶4. (C) Once chosen by the TFG from urban and rural areas throughout Somalia, recruits that were trained by the FAD spent up to three months in a holding camp in Mogadishu's green zone prior to their embarkation. According to recruit interviews, the majority belong to the Hawiye clan; however, all other major clans are represented in the FAD group, according to their presence in Mogadishu. Of the 550 names of recruits submitted for Leahy vetting, 470 cleared. At the NAIROBI 00001966 002 OF 003 request of the GODJ, Mogadishu-based Jubba Airlines transferred the 470 cleared recruits on four round-trip flights from Mogadishu to Djibouti City during the week of July 5 (Ref A). Each group traveled directly to Hol Hol upon arrival. Jubba Airways billed the FAD USD 356,000 for these flights. This bill remains unpaid, to date; the FAD has requested USG payment assistance. ¶5. (C) In-processing and medical evaluations of the recruits began immediately upon their arrival. Seven of the 470 were quickly sent back to Somalia for medical reasons before training began during the week of July 12. Many recruits required nutritional and other medical support during the first weeks of training. Recruits were housed in tents, some from existing FAD stock, some provided through the existing bilateral Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) and some provided by CJTF-HOA. In force since 2000, the USG/GODJ ACSA (as well as most USG bilateral ACSAa) allows both parties to exchange most common types of military-to military support, such as food, fuel, transportation, ammunition and equipment. The GODJ provided two full uniforms for each recruit, as well as two pairs of boots and a hat. -------------- THE ACTUAL TRAINING -------------- ¶6. (C) As the recruits began to arrive, the GODJ and TFG revisited the initial training plan. The TFG requested that the GODJ ask the FAD defer VIP protection training of any recruits and that its curriculum for TFG recruits emphasize building basic military skills. With time being of the essence, in training TFG recruits, given the deteriorating situation in Mogadishu, the TFG also asked the FFDJ to begin its training in July, instead of in October. Both the FAD and the FFDJ acceded to the TFG requests. ¶7. (C) Linguistic, cultural, familial and religious affinity between Djibouti and Somalia made it simple for the FAD to field a team of Somali-speaking instructors that the recruits could easily understand and relate to. The TFG recruits received the same basic training that the FAD provides for Djiboutian recruits. The training day was divided into two parts, with the morning (0500-1100) consecrated to physical activities and the afternoon (1200-dusk) dedicated to lectures. The curriculum for the first two weeks of physical activity concentrated on drilling, following orders and building discipline. This allowed the recruits that required medical support to build up their strength before more strenuous physical training began. For the next six weeks, the curriculum included the full range of basic infantry skills (including marksmanship and emergency first aid) and highlighted urban warfare, counter-terrorism, civilian/military relations and civic/moral education (Ref B). -------------- -------------- EXPECTATIONS WERE EXCEEDED, BUT CHALLENGES REMAIN -------------- -------------- ¶8. (C) The FAD and FFDJ training efforts concluded during the week that ended on September 11. The success of both training efforts exceeded the expectations of all parties involved. USG, GODJ and others officials that have observed the FAD and FAD training (Ref C) note that the FAD training was more effective than that provided by the FFDJ. Not only was the FAD training longer (eight weeks instead of six),the myriad Djibouti/Somali affinities (such as the ability to communicate directly with the recruits without the translators the FFDJ had to use) made it much easier for the recruits to assimilate and retain their lessons, as the FAD instructors served as concrete examples of what the recruits should strive to achieve. The FFDJ-trained group will join the FAD-trained group at Hol Hol during the week beginning September 14 for an additional three weeks of joint training; this initiative should enhance the integration of the two groups. The GODJ has borrowed funds from its Central Bank to send the entire FAD/FFDJ group back to Mogadishu with NAIROBI 00001966 003 OF 003 appropriate uniforms, equipment and arms. However, it has done so hoping that the USG or other traditional donors will replenish its stock. The entire group will then return to Mogadishu (the USG will fund the FAD trainee return; the French government will fund the FFDJ trainee return),to operate as a joint battalion led by the 10 Somali officers (including three Colonels) that are in the FFDJ-trained group. ¶9. (C) There are several pressing challenges that the GODJ would appreciate donor assistance with at Hol Hol in order to enhance its TFG recruit training effort: INFRASTRUCTURE: The current FAD/FFDJ recruits have filled the camp to capacity. Once this first group of TFG recruits departs, the FAD has scheduled basic training for a joint group of Djiboutian and TFG recruits that will likely number over a thousand. The current camp infrastructure in crumbling; upgraded sanitary, water (in particular a new well) and power generating facilities (in particular more generators and diesel fuel) are needed, as well as permanent barracks for recruits and staff. Many of the weaker TFG recruits in the initial group fell ill from diseases caused by lack of sanitation after their nutritional and other baseline medical needs were met. MEDICAL SUPPLIES: The camp provides medical support for the town of Hol Hol and for the greater Hol Hol area, as well as for all recruits/staff in residence. So many TFG recruits arrived in such poor physical condition that the camp's normally bare bones level of basic medical supplies has been severely depleted. What was left had to be expended to assist townspeople injured during a recent rail accident. The camp needs the full spectrum of basic medical, pharmaceutical and field hygiene supplies. In addition, it needs specialty supplies to meet the particular HEALTH needs of TFG recruits, such as diabetes testing kits, soluble fiber, hydration salts, glucose, Ringer's and saline IVs and medication to treat diseases that the recruits arrive with, such as malaria, yellow fever, crabs, scabies, and chicken pox. ARMS/OTHER TRAINING SUPPLIES: The Hol Hol training stock of weapons that are normally used in Somalia (primarily AK-47s and PKMs) is so dilapidated by overuse that they no longer serve as realistic training aids. The FAD also provided the weapons for the FFDJ training effort, as the FFDJ normally use different ones. In additions to guns and appropriate ammunition (ammunition is so scarce that marksmanship training could only allow the use of three rounds per recruit),Hol Hol needs the full spectrum of additional hardware and other equipment that is normally used in basic training. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶10. (C) The lack of cultural and language barriers between the FAD trainers and the TFG recruits and the additional two weeks of training made the FAD effort more successful than the FFDJ effort. However, both the FAD and FFDJ training efforts exceeded expectations. An additional three weeks of joint training at Hol Hol should enhance the integration of the two groups. This Djiboutian/French effort represents a key step forward in coordinating regional and international efforts to create institutions that can support the TFG and merits continuing USG support, in particular in the areas enumerated above. RANNEBERGER