US embassy cable - 05DJIBOUTI282

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DJIBOUTI 000282 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF AND AF/E 
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
STATE ALSO PASS USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/18/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, EAID, SCUL, DJ 
SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER REAFFIRMS DESIRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 
AND GOVERNANCE PROGRESS 
 
REF: DJIBOUTI 212 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Marguerita D. Ragsdale. 
Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). 
 
1. (C) Summary: Djibouti's Acting Foreign Minister expressed 
concern to Ambassador March 16 about the content of the 
current Human Rights Report for Djibouti, his fear the report 
might put Djibouti in a negative light and his belief it 
failed to mention the country's accomplishments in this 
realm.  On the upcoming presidential election, Youssuf 
expressed his government's "disappointment" in the failure of 
the opposition to put forward a candidate to oppose President 
Guelleh, leaving in place a one-man race and creating an 
undesirable situation for Djibouti's democratization efforts. 
Now that Djibouti had made progress in education and health, 
Youssuf said his government wishes to move toward total 
judicial reform, as part of the path toward better 
governance.  Embassy Djibouti will work very closely with the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the next year as the 
Ministry leads coordination of the government's progressive 
efforts on both human rights and governance.  End summary. 
 
2. (C) On the margins of a conference March 16, billed by 
Djibouti's Government as an effort to explain NEPAD to its 
citizenry, Ambassador had a 25 minute personal aside with 
Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mahmoud Ali Youssuf.  The 
Acting FM was concerned about the content of the current 
Human Rights Report for Djibouti, expressing the view that 
the report emphasized heavily incidents (proved or otherwise) 
that put Djibouti in a negative light yet failed to 
underscore events or activities that put Djibouti in a 
positive light.  He stressed that his country was making 
progress in human rights and urged that we emphasize that 
progress in our communications with Washington. 
 
3. (C) Ambassador responded that the Embassy does highlight 
Djibouti's positive efforts in human rights, both in the 
report itself and in our general communications with 
Washington.  Djibouti's national conference on female genital 
mutilation, including President Guelleh's unequivocal 
denunciation of its practice and Djibouti's signing of the 
Maputo Protocol, was a case in point. She noted that the 
mechanism now established between the Embassy and the Foreign 
Ministry for direct consultation on human rights/good 
governance concerns, as requested by the Ministry, is now in 
place and should further assist in this regard. 
 
4. (C) On the upcoming presidential election, Ambassador 
asked if there were still only a single candidate.  Youssuf 
confirmed and said it was not a desirable situation for 
Djibouti's democratization efforts. He said he believes the 
opposition should put forward a candidate.  After all, the 
opposition (combined) received 45 percent of the vote in the 
last election and could very well win with a strong candidate. 
 
5. (C) Ambassador noted that one of the complaints posed by 
the opposition was a lack of true participation in the 
political process.  I also noted that Djibouti may wish in 
the future to look closely at its system of representation in 
the National Assembly.  The current "winner takes all" system 
in place does not give the opposition much of a voice. 
(Note: Under the current system, the winning party takes ALL 
seats in the National Assembly, regardless of proportion of 
votes received. End note).   Youssuf responded that his 
government "is looking at this issue" and admitted it may 
need to be improved.  Yet he also repeated his view (reftel) 
that the opposition  needs to have a clear program of action 
to present to the people, something it has thus far failed to 
do. (Note: Youssuf's point is not without some substance. 
The opposition has tended in Djibouti, as a matter of 
practice, to attack all government actions rather than 
proposing alternative courses of action. End note). 
 
6. (C) The conversation then moved towards issues of good 
governance.  Youssuf said he believed a good judicial system 
was key and that Djibouti's judicial system was in need of "a 
top to bottom overhaul."  "Now that we have been able to make 
progress in education and in health," he told Ambassador, "we 
want to move toward this direction."  Ambassador stated that 
if funding is available in the future for assistance to 
Djibouti, together we might wish to focus on proposing 
specific projects that could help Djibouti move forward in 
this area. 
 
7. (C) Comment:  Both Youssuf and Djibouti's ambassador to 
the U.S., Robleh Olhaye, have raised with Ambassador their 
perception that an "inherent" bias against countries such as 
Djibouti exists in some U.S. quarters with oversight of human 
rights.  We've tried to dispel this notion and will work very 
closely with Djibouti over the next year on this and 
governance issues.  For starters, we have agreed to work with 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through our Pol/Econ 
officer, to track and follow up on reports, allegations, and 
verifiable instances of human rights violations and point out 
governmental anomalies that may have permitted such 
violations.  In some instances, violations are less 
deliberate policy than the result of internal governmental 
shortfalls in the critical areas of judicial infrastructure, 
inter-ministerial coordination, and human resource training. 
In these three areas, Djibouti has critical needs.  End 
comment. 
RAGSDALE