Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
86MOGADISHU2418
1986-03-04 10:17:00
SECRET
Embassy Mogadishu
Cable title:  

LIBYAN PRESENCE IN SOMALIA

Tags:  PREL PTER LY SO 
pdf how-to read a cable
R 041017Z MAR 86
FM AMEMBASSY MOGADISHU
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 9723
S E C R E T MOGADISHU 02418 

TERREP

E.O. 12356: DECL: OADR
TAGS: PREL PTER LY SO
SUBJECT: LIBYAN PRESENCE IN SOMALIA

S E C R E T MOGADISHU 02418

TERREP

E.O. 12356: DECL: OADR
TAGS: PREL PTER LY SO
SUBJECT: LIBYAN PRESENCE IN SOMALIA


1. SECRET - ENTIRE TEXT.


2. THIS MORNING AT THE CEREMONY INITIATING THE AID
PROJECT FOR PVOS, I TOOK THE MINISTER OF INTERIOR,
AHMED SULEIMAN ABDALLAH, ASIDE. I RECALLED THAT
WHEN FOREIGN MINISTER JAMA BARRE HAD MET WITH THE
SECRETARY AT THE UNGA LAST FALL, JAMA BARRE HAD TOLD
MR. SHULTZ THAT THE LIBYANS HAD WANTED TO BRING A
STAFF OF 75 PEOPLE TO SOMALIA BUT THEY HAD BEEN TOLD
THEY COULD BRING ONLY FIVE. I WAS INFORMED THAT THE
FIVE HAD NOW BECOME 12, PLUS A COUPLE OF LIBYANS
AT THE LIBSOMA AGRICULTURAL PROJECT. AS TO WHAT
THEY WERE DOING, IT WAS CLEAR.
WHEN I HAD LEFT MY EMBASSY TO COME TO THE CEREMONY,
A CAR WITH LIBYAN DIPLOMATIC TAGS HAD BEEN PARKED
100 YARDS AWAY. THEY WERE OBVIOUSLY WATCHING US.
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE PRESENT DOZEN BECAME 50, OR
60?



3. AHMED SULEIMAN ACTED AS IF HE HAD NOT BEEN AWARE
OF WHAT JAMA BARRE HAD TOLD THE SECRETARY. (INCI-
DENTALLY, AHMED SULEIMAN DISLIKES JAMA BARRE, AND
THIS WAS ALSO IN MY MIND.) THE MINISTER SAID THAT
HE WOULD TAKE A NEW LOOK AT THE SITUATION, AND HE
THANKS ME FOR MENTIONING THIS TO HIM. HE DID THINK
THAT THE SOMALI SECURITY FORCES WERE COOPERATING
CLOSELY WITH US. I SAID THAT INDEED THEY WERE, BUT
THE MORE LIBYANS THERE WERE, THE HARDER IT WOULD BE
TO WATCH THEM. I COULD REMEMBER FROM YEARS BACK
THE DIFFICULTIES THAT OUR OWN PEOPLE HAD IN THE
UNITED STATES, WHEN SOVIET STAFFS IN WASHINGTON AND
NEW YORK BAGAN TO RISE.


BRIDGES