VZCZCXRO6838
OO RUEHDE RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNR #2469/01 3021534
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281534Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7434
INFO RUCNSOM/SOMALIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CJTF HOA  PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 002469 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/E 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV SOCI SO ET
SUBJECT: SOMALIA:  IGAD SUMMIT URGES TFG ACTION ON DAY ONE 
 
REF: DJIBOUTI 840 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The October 28 - 29 IGAD Extraordinary 
Council and Summit Meeting on Somalia was largely behind 
closed doors on its opening day.  In presentations between 
closed sessions with Somalia's President, Prime Minister, 
Speaker, and parliamentarians, the Kenyan Foreign Minister, 
IGAD Executive Secretary, UN Syg's Special Representative for 
Somalia (SRSG), IGAD Partnership Forum Chair, and AU 
representative praised the October 26 TFG-ARS signing of a 
unity government declaration and cessation of hostilities 
agreement (reftel) and urged the TFG to produce concrete 
accomplishments in the last ten months of its mandate.  All 
of the speakers mentioned piracy and increasing violence in 
Somalia as evidence of the country's continued implosion. 
They promised that the IGAD event would support the Djibouti 
Process, and thanked the SRSG for his efforts in furthering 
it.  The speeches began almost one and one-half hours behind 
schedule, suggesting that the initial conversation between 
the President, Prime Minister, and Speaker had not gone 
smoothly.  Day two will see more behind-the-scenes 
negotiations and speeches by, among others, Kenyan President 
Kibaki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles.  End summary. 
 
Extended, Closed-Door 
Meeting 
--------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The opening session of the IGAD Extraordinary 
Council and Summit Meeting on Somalia was conducted largely 
behind closed doors October 28.  A planned, a two hour 
conversation of IGAD member state representatives, the IGAD 
Partnership Forum Chair, and the UN Special Representative 
for Somalia with the Transitional Federal Government 
President, Prime Minister, and Speaker lasted almost three 
and one-half hours, which sparked rumors that President 
Abdullahi Yusuf and TFP Speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur 
"Madobe" remained at loggerheads and/or that President Yusuf 
had reservations about the agreements reached the weekend 
before in Djibouti. 
 
Kenyan FM Criticized TFG, 
Welcomes October 26 Djibouti 
Agreements 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The delayed meeting of the Council of Ministers 
opened with a speech by GOK host, Foreign Minister Wetangula, 
who noted the danger posed to regional stability by continued 
chaos in Somalia.  Wetangula registered GOK disappointment 
with the TFG which, he said, had put "war profiteering and 
internal competition ahead of nation-building."  The TFG had 
"accomplished little in the four years of its mandate" and 
needed to cease being a "talk shop," the Foreign Minister 
concluded.  Still, Wetangula praised the October 26 TFG - ARS 
(Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia) unity government 
declaration and cessation of hostilities agreement and 
promised that IGAD would support and not compete with the 
Djibouti Process.  He urged financial and logistical support 
for AMISOM and the rapid deployment of a UN peacekeeping 
force. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Other speakers largely seconded the themes outlined 
by Wetangula.  IGAD Executive Secretary Maalim was harder on 
the international community, whose responses to Somalia's 
problems he termed "not timely and half-hearted." Later in 
his speech, however, he noted that "ultimate responsibility 
lies firmly in the hands of the Somalis."  SRSG Ould-Abdallah 
also scored the international community's "failure to put 
into place, support, and deliver services," but the bulk of 
his remarks were focused more on consolidating the fragile 
achievements of the TFG, especially the October 26 Djibouti 
agreements.  IGAD Partnership Forum Chairman, Italian Senator 
Raffaelli, who had long been critical of the SRSG's efforts, 
praised Ould-Abdullah for the October 26 breakthrough, but 
worried that little had changed on the ground, and that the 
number of refugees and IDPs was increasing. 
 
¶5. (SBU) TFG Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Jama chose to largely 
ignore the criticisms leveled at his government.  He praised 
GOE defense forces' support for Somalia, called the Djibouti 
Process the "most viable and realistic" plan for 
reconciliation in Somalia, and urged further international 
community efforts against piracy. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
NAIROBI 00002469  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) An extended, closed-door session with IGAD 
representatives, members of parliament, and the government is 
still under way as of this writing.  On October 29 IGAD heads 
of state will meet and hold and further private meetings with 
the TFG.  Many TFG parliamentarians present continued to 
believe that they had been convened to remove the President, 
and had allegedly submitted to IGAD a petition, signed by two 
hundred MPs urging his ouster, but other observers believed 
that the progress provided by the October 26 Djibouti 
declaration and agreement might have created enough momentum 
for the TFG to block that impulse. 
RANNEBERGER