Cablegate: Somalia: Egypt Cautious On Anti-Piracy Efforts,

VZCZCXRO7146
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #0859 1151527
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241527Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9060
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO 0048
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1190
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0202

UNCLAS CAIRO 000859

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, AF/E (GAREY)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL EAID PGOV EG SO
SUBJECT: SOMALIA: EGYPT CAUTIOUS ON ANTI-PIRACY EFFORTS,
ICG DEMARCHE DELIVERED

REF: SECSTATE 41385

Sensitive but unclassified, not for Internet distribution.

1. (U) Per reftel demarche, we notified Arab League African
Affairs Department Director Samir Hosni on April 22 that the
UN Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG)
plans to chair the International Contact Group (ICG) on
Somalia after the next ICG meeting in Oslo, with the
discretion to include new participants or determine the
composition of any new subgroups. We delivered the same
message to Egyptian MFA cabinet advisor for African Affairs
Ahmed Abu Zeid on April 24; neither had a substantive
response.

2. (SBU) Abu Zeid raised Egyptian concerns over two separate
efforts to improve international efforts to combat piracy off
the Somali coast, one in the UN Security Council (UNSC) in
New York and the second in the International Maritime
Organization (IMO) in London. The GOE views this piracy as
an important issue to address, he said, but warned that "we
have to be cautious" not to limit the sovereignty of
countries in the region over their waters. As "most of the
piracy is in the Indian Ocean," the GOE wants to see
international anti-piracy efforts confined to the Indian
Ocean, and not address the Red Sea, he added.
SCOBEY

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