FM MEMBE ON AU SUMMIT (LIBYA, FRANCE, AND SOMALIA)

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAR ES SALAAM 000057 SIPDIS AF/E FOR TREADWELL, INR FOR EHRENREICH E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2020 TAGS: PREL TZ SO LY FR MA SUBJECT: FM MEMBE ON AU SUMMIT (LIBYA, FRANCE, AND SOMALIA) REF: A. 2009 DAR ES SALAAM 96 ¶B. 2009 DAR ES SALAAM 301 ¶C. 2009 DAR ES SALAAM 869 ¶D. 2009 DAR ES SALAAM 516 Classified By: Ambassador Alfonso E. Lenhardt for reasons 1.4 (b/d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Foreign Minister Bernard Membe previewed for Ambassador Lenhardt his expectations of the upcoming African Union Summit January 25. Membe expressed concern about a Libyan move to retain the AU Chair, which Tanzania would oppose. He criticized the French role in Madagascar and elsewhere on the continent and put out a feeler on possible U.S. support for Tanzanian training of Somali troops. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) FM Membe said Tanzania was concerned with Libya's resistance to Malawi assuming the AU Chair. He said Qaddafi wanted a second term to transform the AU into a continental government, with the further aim of giving Qaddafi a UN Security Council seat with veto power. Membe said Tanzania opposed a second term for Qaddafi, which had no justification. He said Libya's fallback plan was to pull out of the AU, along with 21 other countries. Membe added that Qaddafi was pushing for member states to ratify the amendment to the Constitutive Act that would enable the AU Commission to become an Authority. Membe suggested that many had not done so because of Qaddafi's pressure for a continental government. ¶3. (C) Membe turned to a discussion of "hot spots," with a particular attention to the negative influence of France. On Madagascar, Membe said he suspected the French were "putting their hands in" to complicate the situation. He said Rajoelina was resisting the appeal to comply with the Chissano recommendations for a transitional government and was insisting on running the transition himself, without a coalition. Membe asserted SADC would retain its sanctions on Madagascar. Membe went on to assert that the French have maintained control of security and intelligence matters in their former colonies since independence and are still recruiting and training intelligence officers for those countries. He added that all the recent African coups had occurred in Francophone countries (Note: he included Lusophone Guinea-Bissau. End Note.): "We don't know why but we fear France is responsible." He said SADC might "point a finger" at France during the Summit. (Comment: This is not the first time Membe has spoken ill of the French. See ref b.) ¶4. (C) Membe concluded by touching on Somalia, where he said things were going well. He said he had called the Turkish Foreign Minister to advise letting the "International Contact Group" to conclude its work (ref c). Membe noted the Summit would discuss sanctions on Eritrea and ways to improve security in Somalia, including working with Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and Malawi to fill AMISOM's gap of six thousand troops. Recalling that Tanzania had offered to train one thousand Somali soldiers in 2008, Membe said Somalia was preparing to send a delegation to Tanzania to discuss the training again. He asked whether the U.S. could provide logistic and financial support for the training, as we had offered in the past. (Comment: When this issue last surfaced seriously in 2007, U.S. support was contingent on the government of Somalia providing a clan-vetted list of officers to be trained, which never materialized. Moreover, the U.S. proposal in 2007 was to support training 250 officers, not 1000. With Tanzania now committed to training Congolese troops for MONUC, the capacity of the Tanzanian Peoples Defense Force to train Somalis as well may be limited. See ref d and prior.) LENHARDT