VZCZCXRO0064
RR RUEHDE RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNR #2458/01 3401217
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061217Z DEC 09 ZDK CORRECTED COPY
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1712
INFO RUCNSOM/SOMALIA COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 002458 
 
C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (PARA MARKINGS AND CAPTION) 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/E 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR MARR SOCI SO
SUBJECT: SOMALIA - TFG MOVES FORWARD IN WAKE OF DECEMBER 3 
BOMBING WITH PLANS TO REPLACE POLICE COMMISSIONER AND ARMED 
FORCES COMMANDER 
 
NAIROBI 00002458  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  TFG Prime Minister Sharmarke is pushing 
forward with plans to replace the TFG's controversial Police 
Commissioner and lackluster Armed Forces Commander in the 
wake of the December 3 suicide bombing that took the lives of 
three TFG ministers and left a fourth near death in a Nairobi 
hospital. Sources suggest that the Commissioner, Abdi Hassan 
Awale "Qebdiid", has, after a week of resistance to his 
firing, finally accepted the fact that he must go. 
"Qeybdiid's" replacement had worked as a Police Commander 
during the administration of TFG ex-President Abdullahi 
Yusuf.  He was most recently Somalia's Ambassador to Tanzania 
and, as a Marehan, part of an effort to generate Marehan 
resistance in Kismaayo to al-Shabaab.  The new Commissioner 
at first glance brings little of significance to the TFG, but 
the replacement of warlord "Qeybdiid" with an Ambassador can 
be portrayed by the TFG as another step in its efforts to end 
its reliance on figures with complicated pasts whose 
loyalties are suspect.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) TFG Prime Minister Sharmarke told Somalia Unit that he 
was convening the TFG Council of Ministers on December 6 to 
formalize the removal of controversial Police Commissioner 
Abdi Hassan Awale "Qeybdiid," and his replacement with 
current Somalia Ambassador to Tanzania Ali Mohamed Hassan 
Loyan.  (Note:  "Qeybdiid" had been told that he was being 
replaced about one week ago in what observers describe as a 
tense meeting with TFG President Sharif and the Prime 
Minister.  According to Sharif's Chief-of-Staff Abdikareem 
Jama, "Qeybdiid" had learned he was to be fired and 
confronted the President and Prime Minister at Villa Somalia 
in Mogadishu before they were ready to make the announcement. 
 "Qeybdiid" at the time of his firing told Embassy contacts 
that he would not accept dismissal.  He also at the time 
reportedly rejected the follow-on ambassadorship offered by 
the Prime Minister.  In the days following his dismissal, 
"Qeybdiid" loyalists staged demonstrations against his 
firing.  The demonstrations, and "Qeybdiid's reputation for 
taking revenge on those who oppose him, caused some to 
believe that he had a hand in the December 3 suicide bombing 
that took the lives of four TFG ministers.  Somalia Unit does 
not believe that to be the case. End note.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) Sharmarke told Somalia Unit on December 6, in advance 
of the planned meeting, that he believed that the addition of 
Djiboutian and French-trained TFG troops had made "Qeybdiid," 
who had been brought into the TFG in part because he came 
complete with his own troops and technicals, less essential. 
Sharmarke also thought that a silver lining in the cloud of 
the December 3 suicide bombing was that the subsequent rumors 
about "Qeybdiid's" involvement, although not true, had made 
it impossible for him to further resist his removal. 
 
¶4. (SBU) "Qeybdiid's" replacement is current Somalia Ambassador 
to Tanzania Ali Mohamed Hassan Loyan.  Loyan has been 
actively involved in efforts to build Kismaayo Marehan 
resistance to al-Shabaab in the wake of al-Shabaab's 
assassination of a prominent Marehan Kismaayo businessman. 
That effort has to date failed to gel.  We understand that 
Loyan's tenure as a police commander under former TFG 
President Abdullahi Yusuf was undistinguished, and that he 
was ultimately fired in 2007 for failure to perform.  Loyan 
was reportedly a National Security Service Colonel during the 
Siad Barre era where he was responsible, among other things, 
for containing resistance to Barre's then-increasingly 
unpopular regime. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Also slated for replacement on December 6, according 
to Sharmarke, was Armed Forces Commander Yusuf Hassan 
"Dhumaal," a Marehan.  "Dhumaal" had a lackluster run as 
Commander.  He was unable to make much progress in 
integrating the TFG's ragtag security forces and was 
unwilling to accept advice from more experienced military 
professionals.  "Dhumaal" was courageous:  he was wounded in 
the leg during some of the Mogadishu fighting.  According to 
Sharmarke and President Sharif's Chief-of-Staff Abdikareem 
Jama, "Dhumaal" was to all appearances happy to be replaced 
and offered no resistance when given the news.  He will be 
offered another job in the TFG. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Slated to replace "Dhumaal" is Mohammed Gelle Kahiye 
"Nugagod."  "Nugagod" was a military commander under Siad 
Barre.  He is a Sa'ad/Ayaanle ("Qeybdiid" was Sa'ad/Hilowle.) 
 Some sources tell us that "Nugagod" was not present in 
Somalia during the post-1991 civil war and is therefore not 
tainted by anything that happened during those turbulent 
years.  He may be able to bring into the mix those Sa'ad who 
 
NAIROBI 00002458  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
are fed up with al-Shabaab and willing to concentrate their 
energies to ousting al-Shabaab from Mogadishu, but his 
longtime absence from Somalia may mean that he lacks the 
personal connections to make that happen quickly. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Sharmarke, in his December 6 conversation with Somalia 
Unit, made it clear that the TFG was determined to move 
forward.  He rejected a December 5 suggestion by TFG Minister 
of Defense Abdullah Boss that the TFG would like to see all 
Joint Security Committee and High-Level Committee meetings 
postponed for one month in the wake of the suicide bombing. 
RANNEBERGER