DEMARCHE REQUESTING ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR AMISOM

C O N F I D E N T I A L NAIROBI 000581 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/23/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV KPKO SO KE SUBJECT: DEMARCHE REQUESTING ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR AMISOM REF: SECSTATE 23811 Classified By: Political Officer Rachel Meyers, Reasons 1.4 b,d ¶1. (C) On March 19, Acting Pol Counselor delivered reftel demarche to Ambassador Binsai Chepsongol, head of the Americas division at the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Chepsongol noted that, when now-President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed headed up the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia in 2007, he played a positive role in removing the warlords and restoring some measure of law and order to Somalia. Now that Sheikh Sharif is back, Chepsongol added, we really need to support him and build up his image in Kenya and the Horn of Africa region. Chepsongol said that Kenyan troop contributions to AMISOM would not be possible, but said that other assistance, including military training, technical assistance, and civilian police training (which would all have to be funded by the United States or other donors, he added) might be possible. He noted that Kenya signed an agreement to provide training to Somali customs and tax officials during the Somali President's most recent visit to Nairobi. Chepsongol pledged to share the demarche with his colleagues in the Horn of Africa division and the International Organizations and Conferences division. RANNEBERGER