VZCZCXRO9341
OO RUEHDE RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNR #1781/01 2360705
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 240705Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0754
INFO RUCNSOM/SOMALIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CJTF HOA
RUZEFAA/CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUZEFAA/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHMCSUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 001781 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KDEM PHUM PGOV SO
SUBJECT: SOMALIA - Addressing Impunity 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (SBU) From August 17-18, the Nairobi-based Somalia office of the 
High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Political Office for 
Somalia held a conference entitled, "Addressing Impunity: Toward 
Justice and Reconciliation."  In attendance were the Ministers of 
Reconciliation and Gender and Family Affairs, several lawmakers from 
Parliament's Human Rights Committee, and NGO representatives working 
in various regions of Somalia.  It was the second initiative to take 
action on Article 9 of the Djibouti Agreement that addresses 
concerns over justice and reconciliation.  The first meeting was a 
November 2008 workshop for the High Level Committee in Djibouti. 
While the conference brought together key actors from the field, 
over half of whom were women, it was not an outcome-oriented meeting 
and there is no plan of action for specific next steps on how to 
address impunity and justice within Somalia's still insecure and 
unstable environment.  End summary. 
-------------------------------- 
Conference Convenes Field Actors 
To Address Impunity 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) From August 17-18, the Nairobi-based Somalia office of the 
High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Political Office for 
Somalia (UNPOS) convened a conference in Nairobi entitled, 
"Addressing Impunity: Toward Justice and Reconciliation." 
Representing the Transitional Federal Government were Minister of 
Reconciliation Abdirashid Aden Deeroow and Minister of Gender and 
Family Affairs Fauzia Mohamed Sheikh and several lawmakers from 
Parliament's Human Rights Committee. Also in attendance were 
minority rights groups and NGO representatives from Mogadishu, 
Merka, Baidoa, and other towns across Somalia.  This meeting had the 
unusual distinction of having women comprise more than half of its 
participants.  The workshop was sponsored by the Embassy of 
Switzerland. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The meeting was the second initiative related to Article 9 
of the Djibouti Agreement that addresses concerns over justice and 
reconciliation.  Sandra Beidas, Director of the UNPOS Office for 
Human Rights, introduced the meeting and said that the first meeting 
to address transitional justice was a November 2008 workshop for the 
High Level Committee in Djibouti.  Beidas noted that sweeping 
changes in Somalia's political landscape had prevented prior 
discussions from taking place. 
 
¶4.  (U) Several international experts acted as resource-persons, 
providing examples from other countries including Rwanda, DRC, and 
East Timor.  Justice Mohamed Othman from Tanzania, the former 
Prosecutor General of the UN in East Timor, was well-received and 
Priscilla Hayner, Director of the International Center for 
Transitional Justice in Geneva led a discussion on justice, 
reconciliation and human rights.  There was also a representative 
from Kenya's Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission who 
offered lessons learned from the Kenyan experience.  They offered 
various models for transitional justice mechanisms such as 
traditional and Sha'ria courts, truth and reconciliation committees, 
and international tribunals to address widespread impunity.  Though 
the participants agreed that some of those models could be of some 
use in the case of Somalia, they stressed that Somalia-specific 
framework would need to be created. 
 
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No Plan to Address 
Outstanding Questions 
--------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The participants recognized the constraints to addressing 
impunity given the current security environment and lack of access. 
However, they stressed the importance of beginning the process of 
documenting abuses and war crimes.  They suggested that in order to 
address these issues, human rights awareness campaigns were need 
across Somalia, making use of media and grassroots civil society 
networks.  They noted that Islam clearly defines justice processes 
and heavily favors reconciliation before punitive measures.  The 
group discussed a myriad of challenges that prevent any concrete 
actions on justice issues, in particular the lack of any 
institutional or traditional structures for addressing impunity. The 
participants stated they were categorically against "justice" as 
interpreted by al-Shabaab and others. 
 
 
NAIROBI 00001781  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) During the course of discussions, participants identified 
several key questions that must be addressed before developing a 
framework for justice in Somalia: 
 
-- Can justice be implemented before stability? 
 
-- How can we speak of transitional justice in a context where 
violence is on-going and the government is extremely weak? 
 
-- What modalities of justice can be implemented in the absence of a 
judiciary in the short to the medium term? 
 
-- What timeframe should a transitional justice system address, 
i.e., from the end of the Siad Barre-era or only during the most 
recent five years? 
 
-- Can the TFG be trusted to address issues of impunity when some 
ministers in the government are guilty of human rights abuses? 
 
¶7.  (SBU) While these questions were echoed by all of the 
participants and the experts offered their respective perspectives, 
the workshop did not include a plan for next steps. At a reception 
on August 17, many participants worried that they would return to 
Somalia and the UN and the rest of the world would forget about 
justice in Somalia until the next organization called a meeting, 
months or years from now, where "lip service" again would be paid to 
these issues. They told us that they continued to believe that, 
until impunity was addressed, sustained security and stability would 
be impossible in Somalia. 
 
RANNEBERGER