US embassy cable - 04DJIBOUTI1534

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DJIBOUTI 001534 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/23/2014 
TAGS: SENV, ECON, PGOV, SCUL, EINV, DJ 
SUBJECT: MASSIVE TRASH CLEAN UP CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED BY 
DJIBOUTIAN GOVERNMENT 
 
Classified By: Pol/Econ Erinn C. Reed for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (U) Summary: The Government of Djibouti has taken the 
first of many small steps to clean up Djibouti in launching a 
contest for the best "Act and Keep Your City Clean" poster. 
The contest opened for registration November 6th to 11th for 
children between the ages of 10 and 20.  The contest 
participants have a period of three days in which to submit 
their entries between November 27th to 30th. Pol/Econ met 
November 17th with the Director of the Technical Service of 
Djibouti, "the Voirie," Djaffar Guedi, to find out more about 
the recent media focus on the trash problem and how the 
Voirie plans to solve it. End Summary. 
 
2. (C) For Djibouti, trash is a problem endemic to every 
region of the country, but most especially the capital city. 
Empty lots and shoulders of almost every road in the city 
quickly become the neighborhood dump. The prevalent attitude 
in Djibouti is "beyond my wall is not my problem."  The 
government's lack of resources to effectively enforce 
littering laws in recent years has reinforced the public's 
apathetic view towards the trash problem and has made it 
acceptable to dump trash in any available spot. The sewage 
system in Djibouti is for all intents and purposes 
non-existent. The pipes that are in working order feed 
directly into the ocean not more than a mile from the nearest 
public beach.  Several of the more popular beaches in 
Djibouti are now abandoned because of the pollution. These 
sewer outlets have become popular places to dump household 
trash and even the neighborhood toilet.  Sewer backups 
frequently create puddles with an indescribable stench all 
over the city which remain until the sun dries them out. The 
potential for health hazards from the trash and sewage 
problems are numerous, including being breeding grounds for 
malaria carrying mosquitoes. 
 
3. (U) The Technical Service of Djibouti, known as the Voirie 
in French, is responsible for the maintenance and cleaning of 
the city. It is now their task to educate the Djiboutian 
people about the laws pertaining to proper trash disposal, 
fines for littering, and the potential economic and health 
risks that come with a city riddled with illegal trash dumps. 
The Director of the Voirie, Djaffar Guedi commented to 
Pol/Econ that the problem had to be attacked very slowly and 
continuously in order to make any progress. The campaign 
started this month shows that mentality. Since the campaign 
began, the government run newspaper La Nation has devoted 
space to the announcement of the poster contest. It has also 
carried the proclamation of the current trash disposal law, 
the proclamation of all trash regulations and a statement by 
the Voirie informing the public that surveillance teams will 
begin monitoring trash disposal in all neighborhoods and 
fines will be levied. According to Guedi, the Voirie is 
planning to air the same announcements on the radio to reach 
the illiterate population. La Nation also ran several 
articles and editorials prior to the campaign regarding the 
state of neglect the city is in, citing the citizens of 
Djibouti as the primary cause of the problem. 
 
4. (U) Guedi explained the thought process behind the poster 
contest and media awareness campaign as trying to get 
Djiboutian citizens to first realize that it is their own 
responsibility to keep the city clean.  He said once the 
population is fully aware that there are laws regulating the 
disposal of trash, the Voirie will start enforcing them. 
Guedi indicated that the Voirie's initial plan was to 
institute a 5,000 DF (roughly 30 USD) fine for each littering 
offense. Considering the average Djiboutian household makes 
around 1,200 USD annually, the fine is almost excessively 
steep.  Guedi responded to Pol/Econ's shock at the amount by 
saying if someone has to pay once, they'll never litter again 
to avoid paying twice. 
 
5. (U) Guedi stated that the entire campaign would start with 
the poster contest to make people aware, followed with a 
campaign to get people to use proper trash bags, enforcement 
of disposal laws, removing illegal street vendors, reducing 
the stray animal population, and continued regular trash 
pick-ups.  Pol/Econ inquired who would be responsible for 
picking up the trash that already infests the streets of 
Djibouti. Guedi replied each Friday, the Voirie conducts 
clean up operations in a different sector of the city. The 
Voirie supplies rakes, shovels and trucks to haul the trash 
away but works in coordination with community associations 
for manpower. Guedi commented that so far, more women were 
participating in the clean up days than men. 
 
6. (C) Guedi cited a major problem in the campaign as being 
the lack of adequate disposal facilities.  He commented that 
already the official city dump in Balbala was closed due to 
overfill and the city dump at Douda would soon reach 
capacity. Pol/Econ inquired as to why the Voirie was not 
using the incinerator donated by Camp Lemonier to mitigate 
some of the disposal problem.  Guedi replied that the 
"incinerator" was more of a large cooking pot and was not 
capable of handling the loads of trash produced by the city's 
several hundred thousand residents. He continued that the 
incinerator given by the camp could only be used for one type 
of trash, like wood, and that it was impossible to sort as 
much trash as the city threw away. (Note: The incinerator 
given by CJTF-HOA to the Government of Djibouti was intended 
to be a tool to help manage the trash problem, not solve it 
entirely in one go. Civil affairs teams at Camp Lemonier 
reportedly made exhaustive efforts to train the Djiboutian 
sanitation workers. However, training sessions were 
repeatedly missed by the Djiboutians, rescheduled and missed 
again. Information from the manufacturer of the incinerator 
indicate that it is not meant strictly for wood, but burned 
wood and other paper products as a source of energy. This is 
meant to aid its use in areas where oil and gas supplies can 
be inconsistent or expensive. The manufacturer did say the 
incinerator required the trash burned to be sorted by type 
and that some items, by nature, would not be able to be 
destroyed by fire. End Note.) 
 
7. (C) Guedi said that Camp Lemonier had requested the 
Government of Djibouti move Douda dump to a different 
location. (Note: Conversations with Camp officials indicate 
that a request to physically move the dump was not made. 
However, in current lease negotiations there is a requested 
provision to the lease to mandate that no trash is burned 
within 15 nautical miles of the Camp's boundaries to prevent 
the sometimes noxious smoke that blows into Camp Lemonier. 
End Note.) He continued that studies would have to be done to 
find an adequate area. Guedi then asked whether the U.S. 
Embassy or USAID would be able to assist the Voirie in the 
analysis of new sites for landfills. Pol/Econ said she did 
not know which agency is better placed to address such 
proposals. Pol/Econ continued that if the Voirie sent a 
detailed proposal to the Embassy, both agencies could review 
it and see if any resources could be found to help. 
 
8. (U) Pol/Econ also suggested that if the government was 
really serious about changing the mentality of the population 
it would have to set an example. She cited a project 
currently in the planning stages between Embassy's Public 
Affairs section and the City of Tadjourah for a Clean Up 
Tadjourah Day. The project was initiated by a civic 
association in Tadjourah who submitted a grant request for 
assistance from the Embassy. Pol/Econ suggested that perhaps 
Djibouti City could organize something similar with the 
participation of Ministers or even the President. She 
commented that Embassy programs could potentially assist in 
the planning and such a program would be a great way for the 
population to see that the government was truly concerned. 
 
9. (C) Comment: Many Djiboutians will say that the trash 
problem has been steadily increasing in the past ten years 
with very little government action to fix it.  According to 
Embassy local staff, there have been sporadic campaigns to 
clean up the city and enforce the laws, often around 
elections. The past campaigns have not worked well because 
there was little government follow through. One push to clean 
up the city in the early 1990's involved the city mayor 
confiscating all stray goats and sending them to prison, as 
food for the inmates. It is hard to tell whether this plan 
will work any better than previous ones, but in recent weeks 
Embassy officers have seen more frequent appearances of the 
often elusive trash trucks and even street cleaning teams 
sweeping at night. Many suspect that this campaign is merely 
a pre-election push to show voters how much the current 
administration does for them. Post is highly suspect of the 
will of the Government or even the Voirie to change or 
improve the trash situation. Guedi's commentary on the 
usefulness of the incinerator, combined with information from 
the Camp regarding unwillingness of the Voirie to learn how 
to use it suggests a tendency toward excusing inaction rather 
than fixing a serious national problem. End Comment. 
RAGSDALE