VZCZCXRO9876
OO RUEHDE RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHEG #7199 3541209
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 201209Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3005
INFO RUCNSOM/SOMALIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 0321

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 007199 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/20/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV MOPS MARR ARABL EG SO
SUBJECT: SOMALIA:  ARAB LEAGUE PRESSING FOR RESUMPTION OF 
DIPLOMATIC TALKS, AVOIDANCE OF ARMED CONFLICT 
 
REF: STATE 200637 
 
Classified by Minister Counselor for Economic and Political 
Affairs William Stewart for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) Poloff discussed reftel demarche with Arab League 
Secretariat African Affairs Office Director Samir Hosny on 
 
SIPDIS 
December 20, urging the League to use its contacts with 
Somali Islamic Courts (CIC) and Transitional Federal 
Government (TFG) figures to help avoid military clashes, to 
restrain extremist rhetoric, and to resume direct 
negotiations.  Hosni said he was in daily contact with senior 
members of both parties (including CIC leader Aweys), and 
that the League's message was consistent with the U.S. 
demarche.  Admitting the situation was precarious, Hosny 
claimed credit on behalf of the League for having received 
assurances from both sides not to launch armed attacks 
against the other. 
 
¶2.  (C) Regarding resumption of Arab League-sponsored talks, 
Hosny said the CIC agreed to return to the table without 
preconditions, but the TFG was stalling.  And, no date for 
resumption of talks has been agreed.  As for a venue, the 
League - working with IGAD Chair Kenya - was flexible on 
location, if agreed to by both sides.  The CIC, he said, 
preferred Yemen, Sudan, or Cairo, while the TFG preferred 
Kenya (a supposed non-starter for the Courts).  Egypt, Hosny 
said, would host the talks if it felt meaningful progress 
could be achieved.  One of Egypt's main concerns with this 
crisis, he volunteered, was maintaining good relations with 
Ethiopia.  Egypt was not prepared to provide peace-keeping 
troops at this stage (requested by Kenya's Foreign Minister), 
he added, unless agreed by both sides. 
 
¶3.  (C) The League is pressing the CIC to understand that 
UNSCR 1725 is "not aimed at them," Hosny stated, but rather 
designed to protect the transitional government.  Since the 
Courts already declared that they had no intention to attack 
Baidoa or the TFG, there is no reason for them to object to 
the UN resolution.  Hosny said that Arab League Secretariat 
staff member Zeid Al Sabban is currently in Nairobi to follow 
the situation, and to liaise with the International Contact 
Group and others involved in Somali affairs.  If Arab 
League-hosted talks resume, he said, the main focus of talks 
would be interim security arrangements and power sharing. 
Hosny encouraged Washington and others to pressure the TFG to 
return to the negotiating table without conditions. 
 
¶4.  (C) MFA Somalia Desk officer Mohamed Orabi told poloff on 
November 20 that Egypt is adopting a "wait-and-see" approach 
to a possible CIC attack against Ethiopian forces.  He 
suggested that recent actions and statements by the Courts 
indicated a slight retreat from their original threats to 
attack Ethiopian forces.  (Comment:  Orabi may not be privy 
to all GOE engagement on Somalia, as Egyptian Intelligence - 
not the MFA - has been the primary conduit for engagement 
with the Courts.  End comment). 
JONES