EU TO ATTEND SOMALIA PIRACY CONTACT GROUP

C O N F I D E N T I A L USEU BRUSSELS 000012

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR PM/PPA DAVID GLANCY, DONNA HOPKINS, EVAN
FOSTER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/05/2019
TAGS: EWWT KCRM MOPS PBTS PHSA PTER EUN
SUBJECT: EU TO ATTEND SOMALIA PIRACY CONTACT GROUP

REF: A. SECSTATE 133199

B. USEU BRUSSELS 1878

C. USEU BRUSSELS 1565

Classified By: Pol M-C Christopher Davis for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (C) On December 23, PolOff delivered REF A invitation
to the first meeting of the Contact Group on Somali Piracy
(CGSP) to Didier Lenoir of the EU Council Secretariat.
Lenoir confirmed on January 5 that he and Heli Pekka
Heinonen, from the EU Military Staff, would attend the
meeting in New York. He also said they intended to bring
Joanne Hamer of the EU's operational headquarters to join the
discussion. PolOff also solicited Lenoir's perspective on
the proposed Agenda and draft Statement of Principles.
Emphasizing that he was speaking only for himself and had not
circulated the documents over the holidays, Lenoir expressed
support for coordinating the work of the international
community against piracy. He said this coordination should
be flexible rather than "one size fits all," and should build
upon existing actions and structures. He said the EU would
focus its work on areas 1, 2 and 6 of the Statement of
Principles (information sharing, military coordination, and
public diplomacy). Prodding further, Lenoir questioned
whether the CGSP should not also consider long term capacity
building as one of its lines of action. Calling such
capacity building the "only solution" in the long term,
Lenoir recommended that the CGSP consider security sector
reform or other training activities in regional states.

SILVERBERG
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