SOMALIA - UN Official's Positive Assessment of TFG Troops

UNCLAS NAIROBI 000120 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV SO MOPS SUBJECT: SOMALIA - UN Official's Positive Assessment of TFG Troops ¶1. (SBU) Summary. On January 16 we met with a UN officer Sheikh Wade, who was just back from visiting Transitional Federal Government (TFG) troops camped in the Jazeera area of Mogadishu. Wade was generally impressed by the troops' discipline and demeanor, though their living conditions were austere. All TFG troops were armed and uniformed. Wade judged that force protection at the camp was lacking. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) On January 16 Somalia Unit staff met with Sheikh Wade, a logistics planner at the UN Support Office for AMISOM (UNSOA). Wade is a Senegalese military officer seconded to UNSOA. Wade was just back from a day trip to Mogadishu for UNSOA, where he also visited the Somali National Security Force soldiers based at Jazeera Camp. (Note: The camp houses a large force of some 1,800 TFG troops, both newly recruited and recently returned from training in Djibouti. The camp is located three kilometers south of Mogadishu airport in an AMISOM-controlled area of Mogadishu. AMISOM provides security, training, water and some food for the Jazeera troops. The U.S. and TFG combined to pay these troops' monthly stipends in December 2009, and may do so again in January ¶2010. End Note) Wade travels to Mogadishu frequently and has observed the AMISOM and TFG troops based there. ¶3. (U) Wade said his impressions of the camp and the men and few women based there were positive. Morale seemed to be high, he said. Wade confirmed to us he saw close to 2,000 Somali troops at the camp. He said almost all the troops were in camouflaged uniforms, though some uniforms were mismatched and the troops' footgear varied. All had AK-47 rifles. Wade said he encountered several of the camp's Somali commanders, who struck him as mature and competent. Wade told us his impression was that, with proper support, training, and equipment, a force of this size would pose a formidable challenge al-Shabaab in Mogadishu. ¶4. (SBU) Wade found the camp well organized and the troops disciplined. Ugandan and Burundi trainers were also living in the camp, he said, as were recently arrived Somali-speaking Kenyan military interpreters. Wade said AMISOM Force Commander Major General Nathan Mugisha told him the Jazeera troops were a lynchpin in his larger strategy to support the TFG in Mogadishu and beyond. ¶5. (SBU) Wade said that the camp was well laid out, with several rows of tents, and the Somalia flag flying in the middle of a parade ground. Wade said, however, that the camp conditions were otherwise poor. The tents were deteriorating. The camp had no latrines or showers. Troops slept on mats on the ground in their tents, he said. Wade arrived during mealtime, and said the troops were receiving food, but of only the most basic quality. Drinking water was being brought in regularly by truck. Security in the camp was also basic. Wade said AMISOM troops scanned the few civilian visitors he saw enter, and there was some perimeter security, but Wade's impression was that the camp was vulnerable to an attack by insurgents. (Note: TFG officials have told us the soldiers are protected from ground and mortar attack in part by TFG troops in the surrounding neighborhoods and a pro-TFG civilian community near the camp. End Note.) ¶6. (SBU) Comment: Wade's description of the camp indicates that there is some improvement in conditions for new TFG recruits and trainees, and that the TFG is slowly getting better leveraging AMISOM's presence and providing food and equipment for its army. However it's still clear that much more needs to be done to improve the government's ability and capacity to manage its armed forces. End Comment. RANNEBERGER