US embassy cable - 05NAIROBI3575

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 NAIROBI 003575 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF AND CA/VO 
STATE PASS AID 
DHS FOR ICE -- DRO AND IAO 
LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, CVIS, KPAO, SO, KE 
SUBJECT: SOMALIA -- SELF-DECLARED INDEPENDENT SOMALILAND 
READY TO COOPERATE ON DEPORTATIONS 
 
REF: NAIROBI 3066 
 
SUMMARY 
-------- 
 
1.  (SBU) The Minister of the Interior of the self-declared 
independent Republic of Somaliland committed his "government" 
to full cooperation with the USG should there ever be a need 
to deport a Somaliland "national" from the United States.  He 
expressed confusion on learning that Somaliland officials had 
been denied visas in the past few months for reasons related 
to this issue.  The minister made clear that, to his 
knowledge, the U.S. had never attempted, successfully or 
unsuccessfully, to deport anyone to Somaliland.  He wondered 
how there could ever have been a perceived pattern of 
non-cooperation on the issue.  Although this minister will 
likely lose his job as a result of "parliamentary" elections 
to be held September 29, the Deputy Director General for 
National Intelligence and Immigration joined the minister in 
committing to full cooperation.  (NOTE:  Background on 
interrelations among "Somaliland," "Puntland" and "Somalia" 
is also provided, paras 8-13.) END SUMMARY. 
 
2 (SBU) Somalia Watcher traveled August 30-31 to Hargeisa, 
capital of the self-proclaimed independent Republic of 
Somaliland, amid extraordinary security precautions (reported 
septel).  The trip was conducted in cooperation with the 
Somalia Democratization Steering Committee, a donors' group 
providing indirect financial assistance through NGO 
implementing partners for the September 29 Somaliland 
legislative elections.  Somalia Watcher conducted "bilateral" 
meetings with the "Minister of Finance" (reported septel) and 
the "Minister of Interior", Engineer Ismail Adan Osman. 
Deputy Director General for National Intelligence and 
Immigration Mohamed Nur Osman (no relation) accompanied the 
minister. 
 
VISAS AND DEPORTATIONS 
----------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) Somalia Watcher used the same terms as reported 
reftel to "demarche" the Somaliland minister on the USG need 
for cooperation on the deportation of Somaliland nationals 
from the U.S. back to Somaliland.  We noted the link the USG 
makes under statute between the issuance of visas for travel 
of Somaliland officials to the U.S. and cooperation on 
deportations, reminding the minister of the difficulties 
several officials had experienced in obtaining visas to 
travel to Los Angeles, CA in June 2005 to attend a conference 
sponsored by the Somaliland Diaspora.  (NOTE:  Immigration 
and Nationality Act (INA) Section 243(d) provides authority 
to DHS and the Department of State to refuse applications for 
visas by nationals of any country whose government the 
Secretary of Homeland Security determines to have denied or 
 
SIPDIS 
unreasonably delayed accepting the return of an alien who is 
a national of that country.  END NOTE.)  Somalia Watcher made 
clear to the Somaliland minister that, in the absence of 
clear willingness to address obstacles that might block 
deportations to Somaliland, Hargeisa's officials seeking to 
travel to the United States might be denied the privilege 
under U.S. statute. 
 
HAS THERE EVER BEEN A DEPORTATION ATTEMPT? 
------------------------------------------- 
 
4. (SBU) The minister immediately expressed his complete 
understanding of the issues at stake, as well as of the 
necessity of engaging in a normal two-way immigration policy 
with Somaliland's "bilateral" partners.  He nonetheless was 
shocked that Somaliland officials had already been subject to 
visa refusals due at least in part to a perceived pattern of 
non-cooperation on deportations.  He stated that to his 
knowledge, during his tenure as "Minister of Interior", there 
had never been a request from the USG for Somaliland to 
accept the return of one of its nationals.  "We have done 
some work in this regard with the UK and Sweden, but not the 
U.S.," the minister stated. 
 
JUST ASK 
--------- 
5. (SBU) Minister Osman stated categorically that the USG had 
only to inform the Somaliland authorities of the need to 
return a Somaliland national to obtain Hargeisa's total 
cooperation.  He stipulated only that the deportee's 
Somaliland origins needed to be carefully established. 
Somalia Watcher stressed that, while such an expression of 
cooperation was most welcome, actually entering into contact 
with the minister or his working-level counterparts had been 
extremely problematic in the past.  The minister then 
provided the following contact information for direct USG - 
Ministry of Interior communication: 
 
Engineer Ismail Adan Osman 
Minister of Interior 
(Secretary: "Amina") 
Cell tel no. 1: (252)(2) 424-014 
Cell tel no. 2: (252)(2) 371-957 
Office tel: (252) 828-3675 
Fax:  (252)(2) 523-225 
email no. 1: engosman@hotmail.com 
email no. 2: wagudaha@hotmail.com 
 
Hussein Hassan Gulet 
Director General for National Intelligence and Immigration 
Department 
Cell tel no. 1: (252)(2) 436-179 
Cell tel no. 2: (252)(2) 370-683 
Office tel/fax: (252)(2) 523-248 
email: husenguledd@hotmail.com 
 
Somaliland National Police Department 
email: somalilandpolicehq@hotmail.com 
 
6. (SBU) The minister agreed that, given the difficulties in 
telephonic communications, direct contact should be made by 
email.  He requested that all communications regarding 
deportees be addressed to him, at both of his email 
addresses, and copied to the DG for Intelligence and 
Immigration, as well as the Somaliland National Police 
Headquarters address. 
 
COMMENT: 
-------- 
 
7. (SBU)  It appears that there have not been any attempts in 
the past, either successful or unsuccessful, to enforce a 
deportation order against any Somaliland "national".  Post 
therefore suggests that there would be no grounds to bring to 
bear INA Section 243(d) when considering applications for 
nonimmigrant or immigrant visas for Somaliland officials. 
Although there are many other reasons for a visa request from 
such an official to be given very close scrutiny, until the 
USG has some reason to make a properly formulated 
determination on non-cooperation on the part of the 
Somaliland authorities, there should be no further 
consideration of this issue when we process their visa 
applications.  END COMMENT. 
 
BACKGROUND: "WHAT IS SOMALILAND?" 
--------------------------------- 
 
8. (SBU) The "Republic of Somaliland" announced its 
independence from Somalia on May 18, 1991, within the borders 
of the colonial-era British Protectorate of Somaliland.  The 
Republic occupies the northwestern portion of the 
internationally recognized territory of Somalia, stretching 
from the border with Djibouti in the west to an as-yet still 
disputed border with the Puntland Autonomous State of Somalia 
in the east, and from the Gulf of Aden in the north to the 
Ethiopian border to the south.  Over the last 14 years, as 
some 14 efforts to establish central governance in Mogadishu 
and the rest of Somalia have failed, Somaliland has embarked 
on a trajectory of increasing political stabilization and 
economic growth.  A constitution was approved by referendum 
in May 2001.  Municipal elections were held in December 2002, 
and a fiercely contested Presidential election in April 2003 
ended with the opposition peacefully conceding defeat to the 
incumbent by a margin of just 80 votes out of nearly half a 
million cast.  A Parliament is to be elected on September 29, 
2005, competing the democratization of the Republic of 
Somaliland. 
9. (SBU) BACKGROUND CONTINUED.  Somaliland has been an island 
of peace and something resembling self-governance, while the 
rest of Somalia has lurched through wave after wave of civil 
war and intra-clan fighting.  It has operated as a de facto 
independent state for 14 years, despite the fact that the 
authorities in Hargeisa have precious few resources -- The 
"Ministry of Interior's" principal telephone lines are the 
cell phones in the Minister's pocket.  Somaliland has not 
obtained de jure independence, given the international 
convention that unilateral declarations of secession in 
Africa will not be recognized.  Somaliland needs there to be 
a government in the rest of Somalia, so that it can negotiate 
terms of its independence in a way that is acceptable to the 
African Union, the United Nations and the International 
Community.  Thus the U.S. does not acknowledge Somaliland's 
independence, and has no formal diplomatic relations with the 
Somaliland authorities. 
 
BACKGROUND:"AND WHAT IS PUNTLAND?" 
---------------------------------- 
 
10. (SBU) The "Puntland Autonomous State" occupies a 
territory stretching from the disputed border with Somaliland 
to the east to the very tip of the Horn of Africa at the 
Indian Ocean to the west, and from the Horn-Gulf of Aden 
coast to the north to approximately the town of Galcaio in 
the middle of Mudug District to the south.  Puntland 
announced in 1998 its existence as an autonomous regional 
administration under the leadership of Col. Abdullahi Yusuf 
Ahmed.  Unlike Somaliland, Puntland has never had 
secessionist intentions; nonetheless, the Autonomous 
Administration has had some success in running public affairs 
in the territory, and has exhibited some semblance of 
democratic institutions. 
 
11. (SBU) BACKGROUND CONTINUED.  The major warlords and 
individuals of political ambition in Puntland have taken part 
in all the successive efforts to bring central governance 
back to Somalia.  The former "President" of Puntland, Col. 
Yusuf, participated in the creation, and was elected 
President, of the Somali Transitional Federal Government 
(TFG) in October 2004.  The current "President" of Puntland, 
Mohamed Muse Herse (AKA "Gen. Ade Muse") was elected to 
office by the "Puntland Parliament".  He occupies a position 
akin to a State Governor in the U.S., although place in 
office by election at the level equivalent of the State 
Legislature. 
 
BACKGROUND: 
TO TALK TO "SOMALIA," WHOM DO WE CALL? 
-------------------------------------- 
 
12. (SBU)  For the United States to engage in bilateral 
diplomatic relations with "Somalia", it assumes direct 
engagement with TFG President (former Puntland President) 
Col. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, 
Foreign Minister Abdullahi Sheik Ismail, and the other 
ministers of the TFG.  The USG would not have bilateral 
diplomatic relations with the "president" of Puntland, nor 
with the "President of Somaliland." 
 
13. (SBU) BACKGROUND CONTINUED.  However, in the current 
situation, the USG is obliged to be more nuanced.  The TFG 
has not been able to establish itself in the Somali capital, 
and has no control over its national territory, whether 
defined within the internationally recognized borders of 
Somalia, or as only that area that is not "Somaliland".  The 
TFG President is not able to enter Mogadishu, the capital 
city, due to conflicts with ministers of his own government. 
Although the USG communicates its views to the TFG President, 
there is no expectation that he can make commitments of any 
kind on behalf of the Somali state.  Somaliland, on the other 
hand, is able to meet some of the obligations normally 
associated with a sovereign government.  It is not, how ever, 
acknowledged as a sovereign state, and so USG diplomatic 
relations with the Somaliland authorities can only be 
informal in nature.  END BACKGROUND. 
BELLAMY