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DE RUEHNR #2499/01 3510829
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 170828Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0147
INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
SOMALIA COLLECTIVE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC
RUEPADJ/CJTF-HOA J2X CAMP LEMONIER DJ
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 NAIROBI 002499
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR AF/E, AF/RSA, AND A/S CARSON
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV SO MOPS UG BY
SUBJECT: Somalia - Security Meeting Delivers Modest Results
1. (SBU) Summary. Key security sector donors, as well as
representatives from the UN, AMISOM and the Transitional Federal
Government (TFG) gathered in Kampala on December 9 for a Joint
Security Committee. The committee is a forum to coordinate
activity to assist the TFG's security sector. The committee met
its modest goals of addressing stipend payment and training
problems among the police, and eliciting commitment from the TFG to
publish an already-drafted National Security Plan. In the plenary
session the AMISOM Force Commander (FC) briefed us on his
assistance to recently trained TFG forces bivouacked in his camps.
The meeting's communiquC) follows in para 10. End Summary.
2. (SBU) On December 9 in Kampala we attended a meeting of the
Joint Security Committee of security sector donors and the
Transitional Federal Government (TFG). The meeting's agenda was
modest, but action oriented. It succeeded in resolving police
payment and training problems and gaining a TFG commitment to begin
drafting a National Security Plan as called for in the
just-completed Security Sector Assessment.
3. (U) At the beginning of the day participants formed two working
groups before the plenary session. One group, chaired by the UN
Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General Charles
Petrie addressed urgent TFG police payment and training problems.
Representatives from the European Union, UNDP, AMISOM, TFG, UNPOS,
France and we attended. A second Military Working Group gathered
under direction of UNPOS Security Sector Advisor Colonel Paul
Kellet. Representatives from AMISOM, UNPOS, TFG, Italy, Sweden and
we participated.
4. (SBU) The Police Working Group discussed the decision by
newly-appointed TFG national police commissioner Ali Hassan
Mohammed Loyan to delay by two weeks the resumption of salary
payments to 2,700 UNDP-trained police using EU funds. According to
Police Commissioner Loyan, he ordered the pause to prevent non-UNDP
trained police from publicly agitating for salaries. According to
our contacts, 1,280 Kenya- and Ethiopian-trained police, who are in
uniform and on duty in Mogadishu, are disgruntled by lack of
salaries and delays in beginning a three-week human rights training
course that would make them eligible for UNDP-administered
stipends. In the police working group, the EU agreed to pay a
reduced stipend to the 1,280 while they awaited their human rights
course. The working group also agreed to set a deadline for AMISOM
to decide if it could commence with the human rights training by
February 1. If not, UNDP will conduct it.
5. (U) The Military Working Group used the draft Somali Training
Policy as the basis for a discussion of the requirements of the
National Security Force (NSF). Attending the session were the
Minister of National Security Abdulahi Ali and the Deputy Chief of
Staff of the Somali Army General Mohamed Sheik "Madobe," as well as
AMISOM Force Commander (FC)General Mungisha and UNPOS. The working
group agreed that an organized approach to National Security Force
training was a good idea, but it was unclear to us the number and
location of the NSF outlined in the draft. On this issue Security
Minister Ali and Deputy Chief of Staff "Madobe" deferred to the
Defense Minister, who was not present.
6. (U) In the working group the AMISOM FC gave a brief on his
activities in support of the Selection/Induction training prior to
a foreign training phase, and then the Reintegration Training upon
the trainees returning to Somali. The Force Commander agreed to
detail the requirements for AMISOM's continued support of this
training by December 18. We made a strong appeal for the
publication of the TFG National Security Plan (NSP) which should
include the size, structure and proposed management oversight of
the proposed NSF. The NSP should also propose the number of
soldiers to be trained, in what disciplines and over what time
NAIROBI 00002499 002 OF 004
frame, the working group suggested. The commitment to distribute
the TFG NSP, including the recommended components, was endorsed by
the Minister of National Security at the afternoon plenary.
7. (U) At the afternoon plenary session JSC participants addressed
the group. Co-chair AMISOM General Mungisha briefly described the
security situation. Al-Shabaab had strengthend its hold on the
Middle Shabelle region, and seized the initiative in Lower Juba
(reftel and previous), he said. Shabaab had taken to charging aid
agencies from $20,000-$60,000 per year to operate in Bay, Bakool,
and Gedo regions, according to the Force Commander. (Note: the
demand for aid agencies to pay fees to operate was made in a recent
letter to NGOs from an al-Shabaab political leader. Shabaab
commanders in those regions have not enforced the decree and our
partner aid organizations have not paid any fees. End Note.)
Al-Shabaab is ratcheting up the pressure on the TFG and AMISOM, and
it may soon launch a concerted offensive, the FC said. Shabaab
and/or Hizbul Islam firmly control large portions of the Mogadishu
districts of Deyninle, Hawl Wadag, Wardhigley, Shibis, Karan,
Yaqshid, Abdi Aziz and part of Bondhere.
8. (U) General Mungisha endorsed international efforts to train
the Somali police and military, and reiterated AMISOM's offer to
aid with recruitment and reintegration, especially of military
recruits. He confirmed he was hosting some 1,900 recently returned
trainees and other TFG soldiers, assisting with their continued
training, organization, feeding and housing. He said newly
returned trainees were going without many essentials, including
lethal and non-lethal equipment and stipends.
9. (U) SRSG Ould-Abdullah and others made comments. The SRS
Ould-Abdullah celebrated the TFG's resilience, and said Somalia is
a front line state in the war on terror, just as Iraq, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and Yemen are. The European Union rep reiterated that
Brussels had agreed to plan and launch a TFG training effort in
Uganda. The EU military advisor and EU member state diplomats
speculated that the EU training would prompt bilateral member state
commitments to pay and equip the Somali military. Sweden and Italy
were specifically mentioned. In our statement we elicited
agreement from the TFG on the utility of the Security Sector
Assessment, and urged the TFG to present a convincing political
vision in at the ICG in Jeddah. We regretted that AMISOM troops
had not been paid since June, per an EU decision. We also
announced we were moving forward with our next tranche of
assistance to the TFG via the PricewaterhouseCoopers mechanism.
10. (U) The JSC participants issued a communique, which
follows:
Begin Text
FINAL COMMUNIQUE
JOINT SECURITY COMMITTEE MEETING
KAMPALA, 09 DECEMBER 2009
Members of the Joint Security Committee (JSC) met in Kampala
(UGANDA) on 09 December 2009. Participants to the meeting included:
The Minister of National Security of Somalia; The Minister of
Defense of Burundi; UNPOS as Chair; AMISOM FC as co-chair;
Representatives of France, Italy, Kenya, Sweden, UK, US, EU,
AMISOM, and UNDP.
NAIROBI 00002499 003 OF 004
The meeting was briefed on the Security situation in the country by
the Minister of National Security of Somalia and AMISOM Force
Commander and received report from the two working groups on Police
and Military. The JSC agreed on the following:
National Security Plan:
Acknowledged and welcomed efforts by the TFG to develop a National
Security Plan.
Welcomed the decision of the TFG to convene before the next JSC, a
meeting of experts to discuss the Draft TFG National Security Plan
in order to incorporate the relevant recommendations of the
Security Sector Assessment recently completed, the draft training
policy document and other initiatives by international experts.
Police:
AMISOM shall report within 15 days on its availability to undertake
the three-week refresher course for pre-trained Police. To commence
no later than 1 February 2010.
UNDP's support to AMISOM to assist in providing the three-week
training course or if necessary take on the responsibility.
Prior to the commencement of the refresher course, UNPOS shall
support for a period of up to two months the provision of a
subsistence allowance to non-UNDP trained Police Officers, in
recognition of their current services.
As regards the training of the 1000 new recruits already screened
by the SPF and UNDP, the latter shall assess and provide a plan to
train this group in Armo and in conjunction with Djibouti or/and
Uganda by the end of December.
UNDP with the agreement of the TFG shall resume as soon as possible
the payments of stipend to the UNDP registered Somali Police Force.
Military:
The TFG shall address as a matter of urgency the issue of punctual
and consistent payment of stipends to the trained and registered
Somali Security Forces using both national as well as international
funding.
The TFG, AMISOM and UNPOS submit within 60 days an assessment of
military training capability in Mogadishu.
AMISOM Force Commander with the assistance of UNPOS produces within
10 days, a requirement plan to operationalize the training facility
at Al Jazeera for TFG reintegration and induction training.
The African Union Peace and Security Council facilitate the
processing of the EU training programme for Somali Forces in
NAIROBI 00002499 004 OF 004
liaison with AMISOM and the TFG which is currently planning and
could start in April 2010.
The Joint security Committee continues to support TFG's efforts to
ensure minimum stability in the country and calls on the
international community to expedite the disbursement and delivery
of its commitment to the TFG.
Kampala, 09 December 2009
End Text.
RANNEBERGER