SOMALIA: TFG-ASWJ DEAL INITIALED IN ADDIS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ADDIS ABABA 000314 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/FO, AF/RSA, AF/E E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2020 TAGS: ET PGOV PREL SO SUBJECT: SOMALIA: TFG-ASWJ DEAL INITIALED IN ADDIS Classified By: Charge John M. Yates for Reasons 1.4 B/D. ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the leadership of the Al-Sunna Wal Jama'a (ASWJ) movement in Somalia have initialed an agreement aiming to integrate ASWJ into the structures of the TFG. The agreement would specifically assign five of the TFG's 39 ministries to ASWJ along with three ambassadorships and a similar proportion of senior TFG positions. The TFG would recognize ASWJ administration in areas under ASWJ control. ASWJ would pledge full support for the TFG, Transitional Federal Institutions (TFI),and the Djibouti Peace Process. ASWJ forces would be made an integral part of TFG forces under central TFG command. The agreement was initialed in Addis Ababa on February 13 by TFG Deputy Prime Minister Sharif Hassan and by ASWJ leader Sheikh Mahmud Hassan with the express goal of achieving full execution of it by the end of February 2010. Ethiopian Foreign Minster Seyoum called on international partners to publicly express general support for the agreement without revealing its precise content. Post believes such a statement could be crafted. In a private meeting with Charge later on February 16, Seyoum made a strong pitch for U.S. financial support and weapons for 950 TFG security forces who are about to complete training in Ethiopia, arguing that their redeployment to Mogadishu will provide a welcome boost to the TFG as it concludes this deal with ASWJ. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) Charge attended a meeting on Somalia on February 16 hosted by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin and Ethiopian State Minister for Foreign Affairs Tekeda Alemu at the Sheraton Hotel. Also present were Deputy Chief of the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) Charles Petrie, African Union Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra, and Italian Ambassador Raffaele de Lutio (as chair of the InterGovernmental Authority on development (IGAD) Partners Forum). FM Mesfin presented copies of a three-page document in both English and Somali, entitled "Agreement Between The Transitional Federal Government of Somalia And Ahlu Sunna WalJama'a" (Agreement). The Agreement bore the initials "S" and "MH" beneath the blank signature lines entitled "Shaerif Hassan Sheikh Aden/Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance" and "Sheikh Mahmud Sheikh Hassan/Spiritual Leader of Ahlu Sunna 
WalJama'a" respectively. After meeting participants had reviewed the initialed agreement, Seyoum invited DPM Shaerif Hassan and Sheikh Mahmud Hassan to join. ¶3. (C) The Agreement (forwarded to AF/E) consists of a preamble and five articles entitled "Objectives," "Allocation of Government Positions to ASWJ," "Integration of ASWJ into TFG," "Implementation Committee," and "Entry into Force." The preamble expresses the determination of the parties to coordinate resources in an effort "to eradicate the scourge of extremism," recognizes the Transitional Federal Charter (TFC) and the Djibouti Peace Process (DPP) as the sole bases for establishing a durable peace, and recognizes the ASWJ as a "grass roots movement of the Somali people and a force for peace." ¶4. (C) Article 1 expresses the intent of the Agreement parties to integrate ASWJ into TFG structures and their mutual support of the TFC, TFIs, and DPP as the continued foundation for creation of a more inclusive TFG open to "all Somali forces that renounce violence." ¶5. (C) Article 2 lists 39 jobs to be allocated to ASWJ most of which are qualified as "Category A, B, or C" and which include five ministers, one minister of state, five assistant ministers, five directors general, five directors of departments, three deputy commanders of police and security forces, three ambassadors, three commercial attachees, three military attachees, and three cultural attachees. Neither the categories nor the nature of involved non-security portfolios are further described. ¶6. (C) Article 3 conveys TFG recognition of the administrative structures created by ASWJ in areas under its control, calls on ASWJ to create police and militia in those areas, and calls for ASWJ forces to be made an integral part of the TFG forces under TFG central command. ¶7. (C) Article 4 commits TFG and ASWJ to establish a joint implementation committee "immediately upon the signing of this Agreement" to implement all provisions within one further month. Article 5 expresses the parties' intent to ADDIS ABAB 00000314 002 OF 002 formally sign the agreement by the end of February 2010 and to implement all its provisions within 30 days of signature. ¶8. (C) After the TFG and ASWJ delegation leaders joined the meeting, Seyoum called for all participating nations and entities to support the Agreement. Explaining that the next two weeks are crucial as TFG and ASWJ delegation leaders seek to gain the support of their constituencies, Seyoum made clear that Ethiopia is prepared to continue to play a brokering role -- transporting members of both delegations to and from Somalia and strongly recommending the Agreement to ASWJ forces on the ground with whom Ethiopian forces have been closely coordinating for many months. ¶9. (C) In a private meeting later on February 16 with Charge and P/E Counselor, Seyoum said the TFG-ASWJ Agreement "should be a major step forward." He agreed with Charge that ASWJ's lack of coherent internal structure remained a cause for concern. Seyoum added that some elements within ASWJ had argued strongly that the TFG was so weak ASJ should seek to remove it rather than join it and that Ethiopia had finally convinced ASWJ that union with the TFG was the only way that ASWJ would gain Ethiopian and broader international community support. ¶10. (C) Seyoum argued that TFG needs a boost now in the eyes of its new partner and suggested a way for the U.S. to help provide it. He said that 950 TFG security forces are about to complete training in Harrar, Ethiopia and should be redeployed quickly to Mogadishu where other TFG security forces have been making limited progress taking back territory against fierce Al Shabab resistance. He said these newly trained TFG forces have been supported by the GOE with only $1 million in outside support from Germany. Germany, he said, has pledged to pay the salaries of these forces for three months once they return to Somalia. He asked that the U.S. provide them with weapons and additional financial support for their upkeep and salaries and that this be done on an urgent basis both to permit the troops (which he characterized as 'police' in the manner of French gendarmerie) to be deployed immediately and to prevent their becoming disenchanted with no clear mission to perform. Seyoum noted that we had helped arm previous troops trained by Ugandans and hoped for a quick positive response to this request since Ethiopia arms lockers were bare. ¶11. (C) In the morning meeting, Seyoum had also urged international partners to proclaim support for the TFG-ASWG draft Agreement without at this point revealing its precise content. We believe it would be possible to draft a statement of support for the discussions being undertaken in Addis aimed at pooling the parties' resources and integrating their structures to combat extremism and terrorist groups. YATES