US embassy cable - 04DJIBOUTI660

S E C R E T DJIBOUTI 000660 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
STATE FOR AF AND AF/E, 
STATE ALSO FOR DS/DSS/IP, DS/IP/AF, AND DS/IP/ITA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/05/2014 
TAGS: PREL, ASEC, EAIR, PTER, ABLD, DJ 
SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI SECURITY CHIEF SEEKS ADDED 
COUNTER-TERRORISM SUPPORT 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR MARGUERITA D. RAGSDALE. 
REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D). 
 
 1. (S) Ambassador, accompanied by RAO, paid a courtesy call 
on Hassan Said Khaireh, Chief of National Security Services, 
and his Deputy, Abdillahi Mohamed Abdillahi, on May 4 at the 
Presidency.  She began the meeting by thanking the two for 
their support in the global war on terrorism. She stressed 
the importance of continuing U.S.-Djibouti cooperation in 
this area, and praised the warm relations her two 
interlocutors had with RAO.  Hassan Said thanked the 
Ambassador and recalled the events of September 11 and their 
role in enhancing this cooperation. He pledged that the 
relations Ambassador described would continue. 
 
2. (C) Said noted ongoing efforts of his government to 
protect its borders and appreciated training opportunities 
offered through the U.S. Anti-terrorism Assistance (ATA) 
program. He expressed special concern, however, about the 
nation's ability to guard against smuggling via air routes, 
especially flights originating from Hargeisa in Somaliland 
and from Mogadishu.  Said stated that the weak area was in 
the large volume of baggage coming into Djibouti on these 
flights and insufficient capacity to inspect them.  He said 
he believed x-ray equipment could assist in this area.  He 
explained that none of the flights which come into Djibouti 
or depart from Djibouti have adequate procedures for baggage 
examination.  An x-ray exists for checking of large bags on 
arrival at the airport and a second x-ray for hand luggage 
once well inside the terminal building and just prior to 
movement to airport gates.  He stated that another was needed 
to provide a closer look at luggage and other items arriving 
into Djibouti, especially from Somaliland and Somalia. 
 
3. (C) Ambassador said she would look into the need he 
described and get back to him on whether assistance in this 
realm is possible.  She told Said that she was aware that 
additional funds had been allocated to Djibouti for a Safe 
Skies program and believed that the program may include 
airborne safety aspects as well as ground safety aspects. 
Perhaps, she said, there may be a way to fold in to the Safe 
Skies program the equipment he described. There will be 
further opportunities to discuss the Safe Skies program, 
Ambassador said, when Abdillahi attends the Department of 
Transportation and Transportation Security Administration 
conference September 22-24 in Johannesburg as part of 
Djibouti's delegation. 
 
4. (C) Ambassador expressed appreciation for the 
contributions Djibouti made to the dialogue at the recent 
EACTI conference in Kampala and said that she understood 
Djibouti had been a "star" at the conference.  Abdillahi who 
had been one of Djibouti's four representatives there, 
expressed pleasure at this perception and said he found the 
conference very useful.  He stated that Djibouti had a more 
critical role to play because of its direct involvement in 
many of the issues brought out in the conference.  Ethiopia, 
for example, was more narrowly focused on insurgency groups 
such as the OLF vice true terrorist organizations. 
 
5. (C) Abdillahi took the opportunity of the Ambassador's 
call to raise the disposition of the vacant building across 
the street from the Embassy.  The building had been largely 
emptied by Security Services after September 2001, in support 
of security measures for Embassy Djibouti.  Djibouti's 
government had asked the Embassy on earlier occasions if the 
U.S. would be interested in purchasing the building. 
Ambassador told Abdillahi that she would be pleased to raise 
the building's disposition with Washington, but that she 
would first require a specific proposal from the Government 
of Djibouti.  If the proposal is for sale of the building, 
for example, it should include price and other particulars. 
She noted her concerns, however, about the condition of the 
building and the potential problem posed by the building 
having several owners.  Hassan Said and Abdillahi responded 
that the Minister of Finance was working on such a proposal. 
RAGSDALE