US embassy cable - 05DJIBOUTI245

UNCLAS DJIBOUTI 000245 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF AND AF/E 
STATE ALSO PASS USAID FOR AFR/SD 
NAIROBI FOR REDSO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, EAID, SCUL, SOCI, DJ 
SUBJECT: READ-OUT FROM MINISTER OF EDUCATION ON VISIT TO 
U.S. 
 
 1. (U) Ambassador and USAID directly called February 23 on 
Minister of Education Abdi Ibrahim Absieh to obtain a 
read-out of his February 8-13 visit to the United States. 
Senior Advisor and Executive Secretary of the Ministry of 
Education, Aideed Aden Guedi, who traveled with Absieh, and 
Secretary General of the Ministry, Fathi Shamsan, sat in on 
 
SIPDIS 
the meeting. 
 
2. (U) Absieh said his visit had been pleasant and useful. 
Its main purpose had been to negotiate the second World Bank 
USD 10 million education loan to Djibouti.  The proposed 
three-year World Bank education program complements 
activities USAID/Djibouti is implementing in basic education, 
focusing on increasing access, instructional quality, 
education equity, and community participation in education. 
The visit also gave him the opportunity, he stated, to have 
face-to-face meetings with key individuals with whom he 
partners and to discuss issues of importance in the education 
sector.  He said he had carried with him a proposal for 
funding of a national census this year, in support of 
education and health planning and execution. He had also 
carried proposals for potable water provisioning and for 
further development of the livestock marketing facility 
currently under construction with USAID funding.  Absieh 
expressed gratitude for the lunch hosted by AF DAS Don 
Yamamoto at State, for the working dinner hosted by Dr.Sarah 
Moten, Director of AFR/SD in USAID and head of the 
President's Education Initiative, for the meeting with Gene 
Sperling of the Center for universal Education at the Council 
on Foreign Relations, and for other meetings arranged on his 
behalf. 
 
3. (U) Absieh expressed concern over the World Bank's 
decision that Djibouti's per capita income of USD 915 is 
higher than the cut-off amount of USD 895 for "poor" 
developing countries and therefore a "medium level" country 
in terms of poverty ranking.  He challenged population 
statistics which brought about such an assessment and 
insisted Djibouti's population has grown substantially in 
recent years.  It is for this reason, he said, that a census 
is needed.  Absieh emphasized the high poverty rate, high 
unemployment rate, and the low level of education in Djibouti 
to make the case for U.S. interim intervention with the World 
Bank to help Djibouti negotiate a transitional period during 
which it would adjust to the conditions set by this new 
categorization.  He noted that Djibouti receives concessional 
loans from the Arab Development Bank and the African 
Development Bank and that both institutions understand 
Djibouti to be "poor."  He added, however, that Djibouti has 
been invited to join the fast track program and that it would 
need the help of donors to prepare proposals for submission 
to the program. 
 
4. (U) Absieh said he had thanked USAID for providing 
Djibouti with 1,500 English/French dictionaries developed by 
AFR/SD at USAID for use in African countries. The books would 
be forwarded to USAID/Djibouti for distribution.  He had also 
expressed appreciation for approval of the Ambassador's girls 
scholarship program for Djibouti that would award 1,000 
scholarships during the next school year in support of 
education of girls in the poor urban and rural areas. 
RAGSDALE