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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