Somalia - Security Meeting Delivers Modest Results

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 NAIROBI 002499 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/E, AF/RSA, AND A/S CARSON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV SO MOPS UG BY SUBJECT: Somalia - Security Meeting Delivers Modest Results ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Key security sector donors, as well as representatives from the UN, AMISOM and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) gathered in Kampala on December 9 for a Joint Security Committee. The committee is a forum to coordinate activity to assist the TFG's security sector. The committee met its modest goals of addressing stipend payment and training problems among the police, and eliciting commitment from the TFG to publish an already-drafted National Security Plan. In the plenary session the AMISOM Force Commander (FC) briefed us on his assistance to recently trained TFG forces bivouacked in his camps. The meeting's communiquC) follows in para 10. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) On December 9 in Kampala we attended a meeting of the Joint Security Committee of security sector donors and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). The meeting's agenda was modest, but action oriented. It succeeded in resolving police payment and training problems and gaining a TFG commitment to begin drafting a National Security Plan as called for in the just-completed Security Sector Assessment. ¶3. (U) At the beginning of the day participants formed two working groups before the plenary session. One group, chaired by the UN Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General Charles Petrie addressed urgent TFG police payment and training problems. Representatives from the European Union, UNDP, AMISOM, TFG, UNPOS, France and we attended. A second Military Working Group gathered under direction of UNPOS Security Sector Advisor Colonel Paul Kellet. Representatives from AMISOM, UNPOS, TFG, Italy, Sweden and we participated. ¶4. (SBU) The Police Working Group discussed the decision by newly-appointed TFG national police commissioner Ali Hassan Mohammed Loyan to delay by two weeks the resumption of salary payments to 2,700 UNDP-trained police using EU funds. According to Police Commissioner Loyan, he ordered the pause to prevent non-UNDP trained police from publicly agitating for salaries. According to our contacts, 1,280 Kenya- and Ethiopian-trained police, who are in uniform and on duty in Mogadishu, are disgruntled by lack of salaries and delays in beginning a three-week human rights training course that would make them eligible for UNDP-administered stipends. In the police working group, the EU agreed to pay a reduced stipend to the 1,280 while they awaited their human rights course. The working group also agreed to set a deadline for AMISOM to decide if it could commence with the human rights training by February 1. If not, UNDP will conduct it. ¶5. (U) The Military Working Group used the draft Somali Training Policy as the basis for a discussion of the requirements of the National Security Force (NSF). Attending the session were the Minister of National Security Abdulahi Ali and the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Somali Army General Mohamed Sheik "Madobe," as well as AMISOM Force Commander (FC)General Mungisha and UNPOS. The working group agreed that an organized approach to National Security Force training was a good idea, but it was unclear to us the number and location of the NSF outlined in the draft. On this issue Security Minister Ali and Deputy Chief of Staff "Madobe" deferred to the Defense Minister, who was not present. ¶6. (U) In the working group the AMISOM FC gave a brief on his activities in support of the Selection/Induction training prior to a foreign training phase, and then the Reintegration Training upon the trainees returning to Somali. The Force Commander agreed to detail the requirements for AMISOM's continued support of this training by December 18. We made a strong appeal for the publication of the TFG National Security Plan (NSP) which should include the size, structure and proposed management oversight of the proposed NSF. The NSP should also propose the number of soldiers to be trained, in what disciplines and over what time NAIROBI 00002499 002 OF 004 frame, the working group suggested. The commitment to distribute the TFG NSP, including the recommended components, was endorsed by the Minister of National Security at the afternoon plenary. ¶7. (U) At the afternoon plenary session JSC participants addressed the group. Co-chair AMISOM General Mungisha briefly described the security situation. Al-Shabaab had strengthend its hold on the Middle Shabelle region, and seized the initiative in Lower Juba (reftel and previous),he said. Shabaab had taken to charging aid agencies from $20,000-$60,000 per year to operate in Bay, Bakool, and Gedo regions, according to the Force Commander. (Note: the demand for aid agencies to pay fees to operate was made in a recent letter to NGOs from an al-Shabaab political leader. Shabaab commanders in those regions have not enforced the decree and our partner aid organizations have not paid any fees. End Note.) Al-Shabaab is ratcheting up the pressure on the TFG and AMISOM, and it may soon launch a concerted offensive, the FC said. Shabaab and/or Hizbul Islam firmly control large portions of the Mogadishu districts of Deyninle, Hawl Wadag, Wardhigley, Shibis, Karan, Yaqshid, Abdi Aziz and part of Bondhere. ¶8. (U) General Mungisha endorsed international efforts to train the Somali police and military, and reiterated AMISOM's offer to aid with recruitment and reintegration, especially of military recruits. He confirmed he was hosting some 1,900 recently returned trainees and other TFG soldiers, assisting with their continued training, organization, feeding and housing. He said newly returned trainees were going without many essentials, including lethal and non-lethal equipment and stipends. ¶9. (U) SRSG Ould-Abdullah and others made comments. The SRS Ould-Abdullah celebrated the TFG's resilience, and said Somalia is a front line state in the war on terror, just as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen are. The European Union rep reiterated that Brussels had agreed to plan and launch a TFG training effort in Uganda. The EU military advisor and EU member state diplomats speculated that the EU training would prompt bilateral member state commitments to pay and equip the Somali military. Sweden and Italy were specifically mentioned. In our statement we elicited agreement from the TFG on the utility of the Security Sector Assessment, and urged the TFG to present a convincing political vision in at the ICG in Jeddah. We regretted that AMISOM troops had not been paid since June, per an EU decision. We also announced we were moving forward with our next tranche of assistance to the TFG via the PricewaterhouseCoopers mechanism. ¶10. (U) The JSC participants issued a communique, which follows: Begin Text FINAL COMMUNIQUE JOINT SECURITY COMMITTEE MEETING KAMPALA, 09 DECEMBER 2009 Members of the Joint Security Committee (JSC) met in Kampala (UGANDA) on 09 December 2009. Participants to the meeting included: The Minister of National Security of Somalia; The Minister of Defense of Burundi; UNPOS as Chair; AMISOM FC as co-chair; Representatives of France, Italy, Kenya, Sweden, UK, US, EU, AMISOM, and UNDP. NAIROBI 00002499 003 OF 004 The meeting was briefed on the Security situation in the country by the Minister of National Security of Somalia and AMISOM Force Commander and received report from the two working groups on Police and Military. The JSC agreed on the following: National Security Plan: Acknowledged and welcomed efforts by the TFG to develop a National Security Plan. Welcomed the decision of the TFG to convene before the next JSC, a meeting of experts to discuss the Draft TFG National Security Plan in order to incorporate the relevant recommendations of the Security Sector Assessment recently completed, the draft training policy document and other initiatives by international experts. Police: AMISOM shall report within 15 days on its availability to undertake the three-week refresher course for pre-trained Police. To commence no later than 1 February 2010. UNDP's support to AMISOM to assist in providing the three-week training course or if necessary take on the responsibility. Prior to the commencement of the refresher course, UNPOS shall support for a period of up to two months the provision of a subsistence allowance to non-UNDP trained Police Officers, in recognition of their current services. As regards the training of the 1000 new recruits already screened by the SPF and UNDP, the latter shall assess and provide a plan to train this group in Armo and in conjunction with Djibouti or/and Uganda by the end of December. UNDP with the agreement of the TFG shall resume as soon as possible the payments of stipend to the UNDP registered Somali Police Force. Military: The TFG shall address as a matter of urgency the issue of punctual and consistent payment of stipends to the trained and registered Somali Security Forces using both national as well as international funding. The TFG, AMISOM and UNPOS submit within 60 days an assessment of military training capability in Mogadishu. AMISOM Force Commander with the assistance of UNPOS produces within 10 days, a requirement plan to operationalize the training facility at Al Jazeera for TFG reintegration and induction training. The African Union Peace and Security Council facilitate the processing of the EU training programme for Somali Forces in NAIROBI 00002499 004 OF 004 liaison with AMISOM and the TFG which is currently planning and could start in April 2010. The Joint security Committee continues to support TFG's efforts to ensure minimum stability in the country and calls on the international community to expedite the disbursement and delivery of its commitment to the TFG. Kampala, 09 December 2009 End Text. RANNEBERGER