UPDATE ON RECRUITMENT OF KENYAN SOMALIS TO FIGHT

S E C R E T NAIROBI 002169 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2019 TAGS: MARR MOPS PINR PREF PREL PTER KE SO SUBJECT: UPDATE ON RECRUITMENT OF KENYAN SOMALIS TO FIGHT IN SOMALIA REF: A. SECSTATE 105757 ¶B. NAIROBI 2141 Classified By: Ambassador Michael Ranneberger, reasons 1.4 b,d ¶1. (C) On October 9, Garissa town's Member of Parliament Aden Duale told PolOff that during a second conversation with Kenyan Minister of Defense and fellow Kenyan Somali Mohamed Yusuf Haji, Haji not only told him that Somalis were recruiting young men in Kenya to fight in support of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Somalia, but also acknowledged that such a recruitment effort was likely to have a destabilizing effect on Kenya's North Eastern Province if Kenyan Somalis were targets of that recruitment. (Note: Ref B discusses Duale's initial conversation with Haji, in which Haji acknowledged recruiting of Somalis in support of the TFG but said little else. At this time, we do not know if the TFG's top leadership is aware or approved of recruitment efforts in Kenya. End Note.) Haji reportedly told Duale that he would back up Duale's efforts to retrieve any Kenyan Somalis from training camps in Kenya where they were believed to have gone. ¶2. (C) Duale said that he was returning to his constituency to handle the matter personally and to ensure that he compiled an accurate list of names from religious leaders and parents of those who reportedly had been recruited. So far, he has collected 15 names of Garissa area youth, Duale said. Local leaders were less worried about Somalis who may have been recruited from Kenyan refugee camps or elsewhere and are reportedly training in Voi, Kenya. Kenyans are generally supportive of a stable Juba region in southern Somalia, Duale said, and local leaders had no problem with the training of fighters in Kenya as long as the fighters are not Kenyans. ¶3. (C) In the meantime, press coverage of the recruiting effort continues. While the TFG director of the Ministry of Rural Development Muhammad Mu'awiye Husayn told the press on October 12 that the reports of recruitment (including from refugee camps) were true and that the recruitment effort was legal, Kenyan Minister of Foreign Affairs Moses Wetangula vehemently denied reports that the Kenyan military is training and arming Kenyans masquerading as Somali citizens. Hassan Ole Naado, the CEO of the Kenya Muslim Youth Alliance and a longtime member of the moderate, pro-government Supreme Alliance of Kenyan Muslims (SUPKEM),wrote an editorial appearing in the Star daily newspaper comparing the backlash Pakistan has experienced since training Afghan mujaheddin (religious warriors) in the 1980s with the current allegations of recruitment in Kenya of Somali fighters. Privately Naado shared his concerns with us that Kenya's complicity in the training either of Somalis or Kenyan Somalis to fight in Somalia would only serve to radicalize further already marginalized Kenyan Somali youth, and thereby create an even bigger problem than already exists. ¶4. (S) Comment: Duale's latest conversation with Minister Haji matches more closely what the Kenyans have been briefing us all along: that there is no GoK effort to recruit Kenyan Somalis to fight in support of the TFG. We expect to hear more about the recruitment effort and have already fielded questions about possible U.S. involvement. Our message has been clear: U.S. efforts in Kenya's North Eastern Province, including the deployment of U.S. military civil affairs teams and the launch of a 1207-funded USAID youth program, are aimed at lessening Kenyans' vulnerability to recruitment. In these efforts, we have the support of local Kenyan leaders. Kenyans may not share our deep concern, however, about the dangers of using refugee camps like Dadaab as recruiting grounds. We will make our concerns known in future conversations with the relevant Kenyan officials. End Comment. RANNEBERGER