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OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN
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O 130139Z JAN 07
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1128
INFO RUEHZO/OAU COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA IMMEDIATE 1081
RUEHAE/AMEMBASSY ASMARA IMMEDIATE 0881
RUEHDJ/AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI IMMEDIATE 0081
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA IMMEDIATE 0264
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI IMMEDIATE 0566
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000025 
 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D - C O P Y ( REM REF LINE) 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SO UNSC
SUBJECT: SECURITY COUNCIL PUSHES AU TO TAKE LEAD IN SOMALIA 
 
USUN NEW Y 00000025  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  Under Secretary-General Gambari told 
Security Council members on January 10 that conditions on the 
ground in Somalia provide a narrow window for consolidating 
the authority of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) 
and establishing an inclusive political process.  He said 
Ethiopian forces cannot stay because Somali public sentiment 
against their presence is building daily, but neither can 
they leave in the short term without creating a dangerous 
security vacuum.  Gambari and Council members agreed the UN 
must assist the African Union to quickly deploy a 
stabilization force to include any available elements of the 
foundering IGASOM force.  Gambari called air strikes in the 
south a "dangerous new element," without referring to U.S. 
participation.  The U.S. reported that Uganda has confirmed 
its readiness to deploy troops in Somalia and placed the 
military strike in the south in a context of the ongoing U.S. 
pursuit of known terrorists.  The British are drafting a new 
Security Council resolution to reflect recent events.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
Gambari to SC: Act Now; This May Be The Best Chance we Get 
------------------ --------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In a January 10 briefing, UN Undersecretary for 
Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari told Security Council 
members that conditions on the ground in Somalia, 
particularly in Mogadishu, are in very fragile equilibrium. 
He said early public relief at the withdrawal of the Islamic 
Courts Union (UIC) is giving way to building resentment 
against the Ethiopian military presence, a dynamic that 
Ethiopia clearly understands means its forces cannot stay. 
Gambari said precipitous Ethiopian withdrawal, on the other 
hand, would leave a security vacuum that could plunge Somalia 
into chaos. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Gambari said the TFG must take advantage of the 
precarious peace to quickly consolidate its internal 
structure and to immediately launch a comprehensive outreach 
to establish dialogue with opposition elements including UIC 
moderates.  Simultaneously with this TFG build-out, Gambari 
said, an international stabilization force must be created 
and deployed to relieve Ethiopian forces.  He looks to the 
African Union (AU) to create this force, building on the 
well-intentioned but unsuccessful IGAD effort, and he looks 
to the wider international community to pay for it. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Emphasizing that conditions are already beginning to 
worsen, Gambari noted that warlords have been re-establishing 
shake-down roadblocks in and around Mogadishu and that public 
demonstrations have already been organized against the 
Ethiopian military presence and against TFG attempts at 
implementing its new disarmament edict.  He also called air 
strikes in the south, without naming the U.S., a "dangerous 
new element." 
 
Council Members: Reality Prompts Consensus 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Council members recognized the new reality in 
Somalia brought about by the Ethiopian intervention and 
uniformly supported Gambari's proposed way ahead, agreeing 
particularly to support in all possible ways TFG 
consolidation and outreach and to assist the AU in creating a 
deployable force as quickly as possible to allow redeployment 
of the Ethiopian forces.  Several members looked expectantly 
to the January 15 AU Peace and Security Council meeting for a 
showing of AU leadership on Somalia.  Congo and Indonesia 
were critical of the air strikes in the south, without 
referring to their participants; Italy more directly 
criticized "unilateral" military actions.  Ambassador Sanders 
indicated that Uganda had recently confirmed to A/S Frazer 
its readiness to deploy forces in Somalia, recounted USG 
financial assistance to Somalia, and addressed the recent air 
strikes by saying, "While the U.S. government does not 
comment on operational matters, we have said consistently 
that Al-Qaida and its affiliates have had an active presence 
in Somalia and East Africa.  Al-Qaida operatives have planned 
and executed horrendous terrorist attacks, including against 
two of our Embassies in 1998, resulting in the deaths of over 
200 innocent Africans and Americans and injuring over 4,000 
innocent civilians. There should be no safe haven for 
Al-Qaida or its supporters."  The UK volunteered to draft a 
 
USUN NEW Y 00000025  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
new resolution to enable the deployment of a stabilization 
force. 
WOLFF