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O 101713Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7554
INFO RUCNSOM/SOMALIA COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
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RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 7410

UNCLAS NAIROBI 002564 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/E AND A/S FRAZER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID PGOV PINS PREL SO
SUBJECT: SOMALIA - CARE CONTINUES TO NEGOTIATE WITH 
AL-SHABAAB SPOKESMAN FOR ACCESS TO NEEDY 
 
REF: NAIROBI 2521 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  Negotiations continue between al-Shabaab 
spokesman Mukhtar Robow and humanitarian relief organization 
CARE over whether CARE can continue to feed one million 
people in southern and central Somalia.  In October, Robow 
told CARE to leave Somalia or face attack (reftel).  CARE 
says Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) Asmara 
faction leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys has offered to 
intervene on CARE's behalf but his efforts, if there have 
been any, have had no effect yet. Meanwhile, CARE has 
reluctantly taken initial steps to permanently ramp down its 
operations.  In the short term, the World Food Program (WFP) 
and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have 
agreed to make essential deliveries in CARE's area of 
responsibility.  End summary. 
 
Al-Shabaab Spokesman 
Refuses to Withdraw 
Threat 
-------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) At a November 7 meeting, CARE's Somalia country 
team briefed USAID and Poloff on their to date fruitless 
negotiations with al-Shabaab and the possibility that they 
will be forced to close their food distribution programs in 
southern and central Somalia (reftel). David Gilmour, CARE's 
Somalia Country Director, said CARE had been talking with 
al-Shabaab spokesman Mukhtar Robow about CARE's re-entry to 
Somalia.  Robow warned CARE in October to withdraw from 
"jihadist-held areas," or be attacked. With Somalia's rapidly 
deteriorating security situation in mind, CARE has drawn down 
and temporarily suspended its food distribution to one 
million people in southern and central Somalia. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) In addition to Robow, CARE is in contact with 
Sheikh Dahir Aweys, chairman of a rump faction of the ARS 
based in Asmara.  Aweys favors CARE's return to Somalia, and 
has offered to lobby Robow on CARE's behalf.  Aweys has 
counseled persistence and patience with the al-Shabaab 
leader, according to Gilmour. 
 
CARE Draws Down 
--------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Gilmour said CARE cannot resume its work until 
Robow rescinds his threat, which it regards as credible.  In 
anticipation of not being able to return to southern and 
central Somalia, Gilmour said CARE has started a 3 - 6 month 
close-out process.  CARE is early in the process, with many 
steps reversible, but later stages will be more difficult to 
rescind if negotiations with al-Shabaab fail to bear fruit. 
Until the end of the year, CARE has handed over its food 
deliveries to the WFP and ICRC, both of which still operate 
in southern and central Somalia.  CARE will continue its work 
in Somalia's Puntland and Somaliland regions.  Over the long 
term, CARE may be forced to permanently turn over its food 
distribution to WFP or subcontractors, if donors agree to 
waive all-important accountability and monitoring 
requirements.  There is no agency at present ready to pick up 
CARE's large, non-food aid programs to internally displaced 
persons, however. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) In an effort to clear the way for continued 
humanitarian aid deliveries, CARE has attempted direct talks 
with Robow, and has endeavored to enlist the help of 
influential elders, whose clans would be directly affected by 
a suspension of humanitarian aid, all to no avail. Al-Shabaab 
via Robow has allegedly blacklisted CARE, and IMC, because it 
alleges that the NGOs had provided information to the USG 
that led to attacks on its personnel.  Although Robow has, 
under pressure, rescinded an earlier edict that all 
international aid organizations should close up shop, he has 
refused to retract threats made to CARE, whose withdrawal, if 
it occurs, would mark another milestone in the increasingly 
difficult environment in which NGOs must work. 
RANNEBERGER