VZCZCXRO3249
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHNR #2334/01 2841214
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101214Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7265
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 6124
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 2178
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 0268
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 2993
RUEHDJ/AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI 5418
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 2179
RUEHYN/AMEMBASSY SANAA 0485
RHMFIUU/CJTF HOA
RHMFIUU/CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHMFIUU/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCJ-5 CJIACG//

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 NAIROBI 002334 
 
AIDAC 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF JKNIGHT, S/CT VPALMER, AND S/CT MHAWTHORNE 
USAID FOR AFR/AA 
AFR/EA FOR CTHOMPSON 
DCHA/AA FOR MHESS AND EKVITASHVILI 
DCHA/OMA FOR TBALTAZAR 
DCHA/FFP 
DCHA/OTI FOR RJENKINS; KHUBER 
DAR ES SALAAM FOR LANDRE, DCM; PWHITE, AID/DIR 
DJIBOUTI FOR JSCHULMAN, PASS TO AMB. SSYMINGTON 
KAMPALA FOR DECKERSON 
SANAA FOR MSARHAN 
KUSLO NAIROBI KE FOR DMCNEVIN 
AFRICOM FOR AMB YATES, JLANIER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: MASS EAID PINS SOCI KE XA
 
SUBJECT: NGOs and USG Discuss Civil-Military Relations in the 
Horn of Africa/East Africa 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. On July 15, USEmbassy Nairobi jointly with the NGO umbrella 
organization InterAction and the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn 
of Africa held a one-day conference in Nairobi to discuss the 
evolving civil-military cooperation framework -- also known as 
Diplomacy, Development, and Defense (3D) -- in the region.  The 
workshop was the second in a series of discussions between the 
USG and the NGO community about military participation in 
humanitarian affairs in general and CJTF-HOA's in particular. 
 
¶2. The forum conference was an opportunity for the Embassy, 
USAID, NGOs and CJTF-HOA to share their perspectives on their 
roles and relationships in development throughout East 
Africa/Horn of Africa.  Despite disagreement on some issues, 
there was consensus that the discussion between the USG and the 
NGO community should be continued.  End Summary. 
 
---------------------------- 
Civil-Military Coordination: 
The Discussion Continues 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3. On July 15, USEmbassy Nairobi jointly with the NGO umbrella 
organization InterAction and the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn 
of Africa held a one-day conference in Nairobi to discuss the 
evolving civil-military cooperation framework -- also known as 
Diplomacy, Development, and Defense (3D) -- in the region.  The 
workshop was a follow-up to a similar conference held in 2006 
aimed at promoting discussion between the USG and the NGO 
community about military participation in humanitarian affairs, 
particularly the role of the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of 
Africa (CJTF-HOA). 
 
¶4. The conference included representatives from USEmbassy 
Nairobi, USAID-Nairobi, USAID/East Africa and diplomatic 
missions from the region; InterAction, a coalition of U.S.-based 
NGOs; other NGO representatives; and CJTF-HOA. 
 
----------------------------- 
USG: USAID Leads Development, 
CJTF-HOA Adds Value 
----------------------------- 
 
¶5. The conference began with USG representatives from each "D" 
describing their role in the partnership and their 
perspective on humanitarian/development activities. 
 
¶6. USEmbassy Nairobi Chargee d'Affaires (Diplomacy) described 
the country team's 3D approach to coordinating CJTF-HOA's civil 
affairs activities, which comes in the form of monthly working 
group meetings of the Embassy's Political Section, USAID, and 
CJTF-HOA.  A notable 3D success was in response to the post- 
election crisis earlier this year, she said.  In the Rift 
Valley, the Kenyan Ministries of Education and Defense 
identified schools destroyed during the post-election violence; 
KMOD was asked to help in reconstructing the schools.  CJTF-HOA 
is currently working side by side with KMOD and USAID's Office 
of Transition Initiatives to support the realization of USG 
strategic goals.  This is a combined effort which encourages 
dialogue within a community that had become divided along ethnic 
 
NAIROBI 00002334  002 OF 004 
 
 
lines in the wake of the post-election violence. 
 
¶7. The CJTF-HOA Commander (Defense) emphasized CJTF-HOA's 
primary goal as building the security capacity of host nations 
within the command's area of responsibility.  Civil affairs 
activities comprise a small part of CJTF-HOA's total budget and 
contribute directly to the security capacity goal, as the teams 
work closely with the host nation to carry them out (e.g., 
medical and veterinary civic action programs).  Ideally, the 
presence of civil affairs teams will help host nation 
governments increase their legitimacy and the legitimacy of 
their military forces in local communities, with host nation 
militaries eventually taking the lead in their partnership 
activities with CJTF-HOA.  The Commander emphasized that the 3D 
approach has had a profound effect on how CJTF-HOA engages in 
civil affairs activities.  When done in proper coordination with 
USAID and the Department of State, civil affairs activities can 
help mitigate the stresses that contribute to instability, such 
as lack of access to water and health care, he said. 
 
¶8. USAID's East Africa Deputy Director and USAID's Executive 
Civil-Military Counselor for Central Command (Development) both 
reiterated CJTF-HOA's supporting role with respect to 
development activities and discussed the close coordination 
needed for success.  (Note: USAID's new Civil-Military Policy 
and an accompanying set of guidelines has been formally released 
in the form of a Policy Paper and distributed to all Missions 
and soon to COCOMS.  End Note.)  The new policy recognizes the 
importance of collaborating with the Department of Defense and 
the need to build USAID's own response capacity to security, 
stability, transition, and reconstruction operations.  It 
underlines that the military's biggest contribution to 
development goals is in long-term, strategic military-to- 
military engagement, and that the Department of Defense is not a 
substitute for civilian capabilities. 
 
------------------------- 
NGOs Voice Concerns About 
Militarization of Aid 
------------------------- 
 
¶9. Participants on an NGO panel voiced general concerns about 
the Department of Defense's increased participation in 
implementing assistance projects.  The NGOs argued that DoD's 
participation blurs lines of authority and mandates and may 
affect NGO funding sources and jeopardize NGO security and 
neutrality. 
 
¶10. InterAction's Director for Disaster Response described basic 
humanitarian principles and outlined the NGO emphasis on 
community participation, local capacity and local staff.  She 
also described InterAction's guidelines for working with the 
Department of Defense. (Note: See 
www.interaction.org/hpp/military.html for InterAction's 
organizational guidelines.   For broader civil-military 
interaction guidelines -- finalized in July 2007 by governmental 
and nongovernmental stakeholders and facilitated by the U.S. 
Institute of Peace -- see 
www.usip.org/newsmedia/releases/2007/0807_ guidelines.html 
End Note.)  While the NGO community greatly appreciates the 
military's contribution to training peacekeeping forces and 
providing protection to civilians, they question the connection 
between military civil affairs activities and CJTF-HOA's goal of 
 
NAIROBI 00002334  003 OF 004 
 
 
building security capacity. 
 
¶11. CARE's consultant on civil-military relations called the 3D 
approach "unbalanced" and posited that that the Department of 
Defense is inappropriately taking the initiative in development. 
Even USAID's assistance has become more oriented toward 
security, he claimed.  He criticized CJTF-HOA for not 
understanding the local interests and ethnic dynamics of the 
communities being served, especially in border regions.  He 
observed that some communities viewed the U.S. military as a 
belligerent in the Somalia conflict, thus complicating the 
reception of military civil affairs projects in their area and 
confusing the population about the relationship between NGOs and 
any military.  (Note:  The CARE findings have not been 
verified/corroborated generically, and remain opinions based on 
specific interviews.  End Note) 
 
¶12. PACT's Kenya Senior Program Officer echoed the sentiment 
that some people view civil-military activities with suspicion. 
Kenya's North Eastern Province provides the example, he said, a 
province which was under martial law until the early 1990s.  One 
of CJTF-HOA's goals has been to help the Kenyan Department of 
Defense improve its relationship with the communities of North 
Eastern Province, yet local communities still have negative 
associations with Kenya's military and question CJTF-HOA's 
attempt to raise the Kenyan military's profile, he said. 
 
-------------------------- 
Discussion: Open and Frank 
-------------------------- 
 
¶13. The discussion period gave participants an opportunity for 
frank dialogue. A CJTF-HOA representative discussed how civil 
affairs teams have gradually gained acceptance in local 
communities by holding open forums to discuss their work and 
then completing their work as agreed upon with local 
authorities.  An NGO representative countered by asking whether 
local communities would ever see the work of civil affairs teams 
- either national or U.S. - as altruistic.  While communities 
may accept civil affairs projects in their own self-interest, 
one NGO observer stated, their suspicions of any military 
activities would not change. 
 
¶14.  Some NGO representatives expressed discomfort at the idea 
of directly supporting civil affairs teams on aid projects. 
USAID's own acceptance of Department of Defense funding (i.e., 
1207 funding) also presented a conundrum for some in the NGO 
community, causing some to rethink their relationship with 
USAID, one representative said. 
 
¶15.  In response, the CJTF-HOA Commander reiterated the 
rationale for U.S. civil-military activities: 
 
-  They train partner nation militaries in civil affairs 
activities such as veterinary vaccination programs which build 
trust and rapport with local populations.  Currently, CJTF-HOA 
provides the equipment, delivers the knowledge, skills and 
abilities to partner national military counterparts.  In the 
future, CJTF-HOA seeks partner nations to take the lead in these 
efforts, with CJTF-HOA playing a supporting role in training to 
country-specific needs as identified by the partner national 
governments; 
 
 
NAIROBI 00002334  004 OF 004 
 
 
-  CJTF-HOA can access high risk areas which can help advance 
USG and host nation development priorities; 
 
-  Civil affairs activities, such as medical civic action 
programs, provide collaboration opportunities that lead to 
security capacity building efforts; 
 
-  Civil affairs activities can mitigate stresses that 
contribute to instability, such as lack of access to water, 
healthcare, veterinary/medical actions; and 
 
-  Civil affairs activities provide the collaborative 
opportunities for CJTF-HOA to better understand cultural 
dynamics to effectively tailor programming and projects to 
support partner militaries as well as enhancing long-term 
security capacity building objectives. 
 
¶16. At the end of the day, participants from all sides made 
concrete recommendations about what should happen next.  CJTF- 
HOA discussed its plan to systematically evaluate the 
effectiveness of its humanitarian projects in building security 
capacity and to gauge local communities' perceptions of its 
work.  NGO representatives asked that USAID remain their main 
interlocutor with the USG, and for local interagency working 
groups to solicit and respond to NGO concerns about CJTF-HOA's 
activities.  One NGO representative suggested that the 
Department of Defense could best contribute to its security 
objectives with military-to-military training on topics like 
gender awareness, civilian protection and HIV/AIDS. 
 
¶17. Despite disagreement on some issues, there was consensus 
that the discussion between the USG and the NGO community should 
be continued.  Many participants expressed interest in holding 
follow-on meetings both regionally and at the country team level 
to continue addressing the issues that were raised. 
Participants fully endorsed USAID as the lead interlocutor 
between NGOs and the U.S. military on civil-military activities. 
Participants also agreed that the conference was timely, key 
issues were raised and a commitment was made on all sides to 
continue dialogue. 
 
¶18.  This cable has been coordinated with and cleared by CJTF- 
HOA and USAID. 
 
SLUTZ