VZCZCXYZ0002
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNR #2468 3021503
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281503Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7433
INFO RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 2838

UNCLAS NAIROBI 002468 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE PASS TO L/UNA TODD BUCHWALD AND HEATHER SCHILDGE 
STATE ALSO FOR AF/E/GAREY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNSC UNGA SO
SUBJECT: SOMALIA - INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE CANDIDATE 
 
REF: SECSTATE 112227 
 
¶1.  As requested reftel, we asked our contacts about 
Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, candidate for the International Court 
of Justice.  Yusuf, a lawyer, left Somalia in the 1960s.  He 
joined the UN and reportedly worked for many years in the 
United States.  He is now retired, but has continued to work 
as a legal advisor to several African governments and 
international organizations, including UNESCO, we are told. 
Abdulqawi Yusuf has wanted a position on the international 
court at least since 2007, when he asked Somalia's 
Transitional Federal Government (TFG) President Abdullahi 
Yusuf and current Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein for their 
support.  Yusuf, though reportedly not a direct relative of 
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, is from the president's 
same clan, and may be related to the president by marriage. 
 
¶2.  A former member of President Yusuf's staff told us Somali 
government leaders hold Abdulqawi Yusuf in high regard  and 
have lobbied for Abdulqawi Yusuf's various international 
postings in the past.  TFG leaders generally support the 
United States' regional and even international policy 
positions.  However, we don't have specific information about 
Abdulqawi Yusuf's views on reftel's positions important to 
the United States.  Our contacts speculate his reportedly 
pan-Somali bent, clan affiliation (Daarood/Warsengeli), and 
roots in northern Somalia, where regional clashes have 
occurred and Somali secessionist movements exist, may make 
Abdulqawi Yusuf sympathetic to sovereignty claims and less 
likely to support autonomy movements. 
RANNEBERGER