SOMALIA - PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION UNDERWAY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 000026 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/E E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/06/2019 TAGS: PGOV PINR KDEM SOCI SO ET SUBJECT: SOMALIA - PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION UNDERWAY REF: 08 NAIROBI 2879 Classified By: Somalia Unit Counselor Bob Patterson. Reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (C) Summary: In the wake of Somalia Transitional Federal Government (TFG) President Yusuf's December 29 resignation (reftel),a succession race has begun. Somalis and members of the international community, have become engaged in the effort to harmonize the effort to form a TFG - Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) unity government with the need to meet the Transitional Federal Charter's thirty-day deadline for naming a new president. A TFG - ARS working group (called for in the November 25 communique from discussions in Djibouti) began negotiations on forming a unity government in Nairobi January 6. Going into the negotiations, ARS members told us they would insist on equal representation in Parliament and that they would be prepared to adhere to the spirit, but not the letter, of the 4.5 formula for clan representation. End summary. Many Potential Successors -------------- ¶2. (C) Following TFG President Yusuf's December 29 resignation (reftel),the number of Somalis rumored to be seeking the presidency has steadily increased. (According to the Transitional Federal Charter, the president should be chosen by the Parliament within thirty days of the resignation of his predecessor.) With observers assuming that money will play an important role in winning parliamentarians' votes, those rumored candidates with the deepest pockets are assumed to have an advantage. Among those with the most financial weight are former Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi, former TFG Fisheries Minister and perennial presidential hopeful Mohamed Afrah Qanyare, onetime Puntland presidential candidate Hassan Abshir Farah, Transitional National Government Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galaydh, and former Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Abdirizak Osman Hassan Jirile. Also quietly contending are current TFG Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein "Nur Adde", ARS Chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Aden (assuming a unity government is formed quickly),and ex-Ambassador to the U.S. Yusuf Omar al-Azhari. There are, no doubt, still other candidates of whom the Embassy is not yet aware, or who will make their candidacies known at a later date. ¶3. (C) In addition to money, it is believed that the Government of Ethiopia will play an outsized role in the succession process. A number of candidates are known to have recently spent several days in Addis Ababa, among them al-Azhari and Prime Minister Hussein, and still others are rumored to have had interviews with the GoE, or to be already very well known to Addis Ababa. It is further rumored that still other candidates have the backing of countries that have been historically influential in Somalia. Jirile is thought to be sponsored by the Italian government, with some here alleging that is a one-time business partner of Italian Senator Mario Raffaelli. ¶4. (C) The rumored candidates come from across the clan spectrum. Some argue that a member of Yusuf's Darod clan should be allowed to finish the former President's term. All seem to agree that, whoever becomes President, the leadership troika (President, Prime Minister, Speaker) should reflect Somalia's clan balance. Timing the Succession and the Creation of a Unity Government -------------- ¶5. (C) Concurrent with the efforts of the candidates to win the sympathies of Somalia's Parliament, a debate is underway about the best way to synchronize the presidential succession race and efforts to form a unity government. The TFG - ARS working group that was to have been formed immediately after the signing of the November 25 Djibouti communique, formally began its work only on January 6. The communique allotted the working group thirty days in which to make its recommendation on the shape of a unity government. The ten members of the group (five TFG and five ARS representatives) seemed confident going into the Nairobi negotiations, that they could reach agreement on the size of the Parliament, the selection of a new unity leadership, and the length of the TFG's mandate well within thirty days. In their scenario, it would then be possible to elect a new president within the thirty-day succession deadline, whose clock began ticking December 29. NAIROBI 00000026 002 OF 002 ¶6. (C) At the same time, however, a group of MPs who have been meeting in Nairobi has indicated that the any agreement reached by the unity government working group might face resistance from Parliament. They insist that the ARS should not receive the same number of seats as the TFG in a unity parliament. The parliamentary committee charged with reviewing the Djibouti recommendations told us that the ARS should be given no more than 100 slots total. Since a two-thirds parliamentary majority is necessary to amend the Transition Charter to expand the Parliament, their resistance might scuttle the efforts of the working group. ¶7. (C) If the working group does not succeed in quickly reaching agreement, a fallback solution might be to elect a president who would hold office until a unity government could be formed and new elections held. ¶8. (C) ARS working group members assure the Embassy that they have prepared a list of new members for a unity Parliament should negotiations proceed quickly. Unlike ARS Chairman Sheikh Sharif, who has told us that the ARS would abide by the 4.5 formula in selecting new parliamentarians, the ARS delegates report that they would adhere to the spirit of the 4.5 formula in selecting MPs from all regions of Somalia, but they would not rigorously apply the formula in making their choices. Other ARS leaders have insisted to us that they intend to follow the formula to ensure that all new MPs are selected with the same criteria as the existing parliamentarians. Any significant clan imbalance in the ARS list could cause further problems in the unification process, as could the impression that the ARS was retreating from its stated commitment to 4.5. ¶9. (C) In a January 6 meeting with the international missions in Nairobi, UN SRSG Ould-Abdallah seemed to suggest that one way in which the objections of the Nairobi parliamentarians and others who worry about excessive ARS influence could be finessed could be to argue that not all of the current parliamentarians are in fact loyal to the TFG, and to use some of the additional 75 seats reserved for civil society and the business community to dilute the impact of the expansion. Comment -------------- ¶10. (C) In our conversations, Somalia Unit has been urging that the succession process take place in accordance with the Charter. Ambassador Ranneberger and Special Envoy for Somalia Yates have personally urged Speaker and acting President Sheikh Aden "Madobe" to accomplish the succession within the allotted thirty days. However, if forming a unity government satisfactory to a majority of MPs and the selection of a President can be done in a period exceeding thirty days, it appears that concerned Somalis and the international community would be prepared to ignore the letter of the Charter and focus on its spirit. RANNEBERGER