VZCZCXRO2010
RR RUEHMR RUEHRN RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKM #0669/01 1101005
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 201005Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8623
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KAMPALA 000669 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/17 
TAGS: PREL EAID KPKO MOPS ET SO ER KE UG
SUBJECT: UGANDA: OFFICIAL DISCUSSIONS WITH ERITREA ON 
SOMALIA 
 
 
Classified By: P/E Chief Kathleen FitzGibbon for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d 
). 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary: President Museveni and Foreign Minister 
Kutesa held two separate, but similar, meetings with Eritrean 
President Isaias Afewerki over the issue of external support 
for Somali factions.  Museveni and Kutesa asked that Eritrea 
end its support for the Islamic Courts in early April and 
late March.  In both meetings, Isaias accused Uganda of being 
dragged into Somalia by the U.S. and Ethiopia and warned 
Uganda to pull out its troops.  Museveni denied being a 
"stooge" of the U.S.  Museveni apparently had hoped that 
direct engagement could persuade Eritrea to cooperate, but 
walked away empty-handed.  Museveni reportedly remains 
concerned about Eritrea's "isolation" and ties to Sudan. 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials say Uganda will 
continue to reach out to Eritrea on regional issues, 
including Somalia.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (C)  President Yoweri Museveni and Foreign Minister Sam 
Kutesa met with Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki in two 
separate meetings held within a period of two weeks.  Julius 
Kagamba Singoma, the Director for East Africa and Somalia at 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was present in Kutesa's 
meeting on March 22 and traveled with Museveni for his 
meeting on April 2.  He relayed this account of the meetings 
to P/E Chief. 
 
¶3.  (C)  On March 22, Museveni sent Kutesa as a special envoy 
to present Isaias with evidence of Eritrean complicity with 
Islamic elements and ask that Eritrea end this support. 
Kutesa presented photographs of Eritreans who were killed in 
Mogadishu and intelligence information from captured 
Eritreans, according to Kagamba.  Kutesa told Isaias that the 
Ugandan Government wanted Isaias to have ground truth. 
According to Kagamba, Iasias did not deny Kutesa's 
allegations and asked Kutesa why Uganda went to Somalia.  He 
accused Uganda of being "dragged in" by the United States and 
Ethiopia.  He advised Kutesa that it is not too late to get 
out.  He also warned Kutesa that Uganda would regret getting 
involved.  Isaias then launched into a long history of the 
region.  He said that Uganda could not understand the 
dynamics of the situation because it was not Ugandan history, 
but Eritrea's and Ethiopia's history in the Horn of Africa. 
 
¶4.  (C) Kutesa responded that Uganda was once a failed state 
that needed its neighbors' help.  Tanzanian intervention 
helped get Uganda back on the right track.  Kutesa said that 
President Museveni wanted Isaias' help with restoring 
stability and order in Somalia.  Isaias told Kutesa that 
Somalia was a highly complicated situation that could not 
easily be resolved.  He stated that the Transitional Federal 
Government was not legitimate.  The Islamic Courts were a 
legitimate authority and had been accepted by the Somali 
people. Uganda needed to withdraw quickly.  He warned Kutesa 
that the best scenario for Uganda if it remained in Somalia 
would be worse than Iraq is for the United States.  Isaias 
said that the U.S. could afford to absorb the costs in lives 
and funding of Iraq, but that Uganda could bear the price 
that it would pay in Somalia.  Isaias also told Kutesa that 
both the African Union and Intergovernmental Authority for 
Development (IGAD) were "dead" because neither institution 
checked Ethiopian aggression. 
 
¶5.  (C) Museveni met with Isaias on April 2 to urge Eritrea 
to end support for Somali Islamists.  According to Kagamba, 
Museveni's meeting with Isaias unfolded along the same lines. 
 Isaias repeated his warning that Uganda should leave Somalia 
as soon as possible.  Publicly, Isaias described Uganda's 
intervention as "hasty."  Isaias also said that Uganda was 
part of a peacekeeping force that was "taking sides." 
Uganda's Regional Affairs Minister Isaac Musumba, who also 
traveled to Asmara, stated that Museveni went to Eritrea to 
find middle ground.  Uganda is supporting the IGAD-created 
TFG.  Eritrea wants "the Islamic Courts Union as a legitimate 
government in Somalia."  He added that Eritrea would not 
recognize the TFG. 
 
¶6.  (C) According to Kagamba, the atmospherics of the Kutesa 
meeting were good, despite the deep differences in positions. 
 He said that Isaias received Kutesa immediately after 
arrival and that the Eritrean Government officials appeared 
to appreciate the visit.  Museveni came away from his meeting 
convinced that Eritrea was closely coordinating its 
activities in Somalia and Darfur with Sudan.  Kagamba said 
that the President had thought he could reason with Isaias 
because he had considered Eritrea not to be in the sphere of 
the "Arab fundamentalists."  However, Museveni's meeting with 
Isaias changed his mind about Eritrea's intentions and allies. 
 
¶7.  (C)  Nonetheless, Ugandan Foreign Ministry officials were 
 
KAMPALA 00000669  002 OF 002 
 
 
pleased that Eritrea attended a recent IGAD meeting, 
according to Kagamba.  However, Eritrea balked at the 
provisions in the communique which commended Ethiopia for 
rescuing the Transitional Federal Government, expressed 
concern about extremists, and invited the international 
community to provide assistance to Somalia. 
 
¶8.  (U)  In a related development, Museveni publicly denied 
being a "stooge" of the U.S., and he defended Uganda's 
participation in Somalia in an April 19 newspaper statement. 
Museveni refuted assertions made in an earlier newspaper 
article that the recent events in Somalia were orchestrated 
by the United States; that the U.S. decided "their guy" is 
Abdallahi Yusuf; Ethiopia was the only "ally" of the U.S. in 
the Horn of Africa; the IGAD initiative in Kenya that 
resulted in the Somalia agreement was inspired by the U.S.; 
and the violence in Somalia is now "worse than ever." 
Museveni pointed out that the U.S. took actions that delayed 
the implementation of IGAD's plans for Somalia, but that U.S. 
support now for African efforts on Somalia was welcome. 
Museveni stated that it is insulting to be called a "stooge" 
of the U.S. because black African countries were capable of 
defending regional interests without being told to do so by 
Western powers.  Museveni stated that the Islamic Courts made 
mistakes and should now negotiate with other Somalis to 
broaden unity, enrich the interim arrangement for an agreed 
period, and hold elections to give back to the Somalis their 
sovereignty. 
 
- - - - 
COMMENT 
- - - - 
 
¶9.  (C)  According to our MFA contacts, Museveni and Kutesa 
walked away empty-handed from their visits to Eritrea. 
Nonetheless, MFA officials say that Uganda is in Somalia for 
the long haul and would continue to look for ways to diminish 
external support for the various Somali factions. 
BROWNING