US embassy cable - 05DJIBOUTI512

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DJIBOUTI 000512 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF ASSISTANT SECRETARY CONSTANCE NEWMAN AND AF 
DAS DON YAMAMOTO 
STATE ALSO PASS USAID 
LONDON/PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, EAID, ECON, DJ 
SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI'S NEW FOREIGN MINISTER ON RECENT GUELLEH 
VISIT TO WASHINGTON 
 
REF: STATE 092721 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Marguerita D. Ragsdale. 
Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). 
 
 1.  (C) Summary:  Djibouti's new Minister of Foreign Affairs 
is pleased with the outcome of the May 13 stopover visit to 
Washington of President Guelleh (see reftel) and reviewed 
with Ambassador key aspects of Guelleh's meetings with 
Secretary Rice, NSC Africa Director Courville, USAID 
 
SIPDIS 
Administrator Natsios and IRI representatives.  The visit had 
been seen by Youssuf as an opportunity for Guelleh to 
re-affirm close strategic ties of Djibouti with the U.S., to 
seek development assistance for Djibouti and to encourage 
investment in energy production and water access.  The 
much-respected new Foreign Minister, an Afar who had been 
acting Foreign Minister since the illness of his predecessor 
in March, is expected to bring energy, innovation and 
dynamism to Djibouti's foreign policy arm in the months 
ahead.  End summary. 
 
2. (C) Ambassador discussed the recent visit of President 
Guelleh to Washington (see reftel) with newly-appointed 
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mahmoud Ali Youssuf, during her 
May 26 meeting with Youssuf.  Youssuf, who had accompanied 
Guelleh during the U.S. visit, conveyed to Ambassador his and 
Guelleh's pleasure over the outcome of the Washington visit. 
He said it had been important to have the blessing of the 
United States in the aftermath of presidential elections and 
to re-confirm the closeness of U.S.-Djiboutian ties.  He said 
he believed President Guelleh had succeeded well in 
explaining the views of Djibouti to the United States and 
that all in the Djiboutian delegation thought the President 
and Secretary Rice had established a warm rapport.  Youssuf 
expressed hope that the Secretary had seen Guelleh as a 
president who can make a difference in the Horn of Africa, 
despite the many tensions there such as between Ethiopia and 
Eritrea and in Sudan. 
 
3. (C) Youssuf summarized content of the Secretary 
Rice-Guelleh meeting along the same lines as reftel.  He said 
internally, Guelleh had stressed that democracy is moving 
ahead and had promised the Secretary to make the system work 
in Djibouti.  He said the president had conveyed the 
intention to organize regional elections in the next two to 
three years and would also make significant strides towards a 
legislative system of proportional representation. He also 
said Guelleh had pledged to serve out his second term and no 
more.  Ambassador emphasized the importance of this 
commitment to reform saying that the last election had 
revealed systemic realities that in many ways were serving to 
undermine the progress of democracy in Djibouti even where 
there is no malevolent intent in this regard on the part of 
the government. 
 
4. (C) Youssuf said Guelleh had made only one request in his 
meetings in Washington with Secretary Rice and with USAID 
Director Natsios.  That request was for development 
assistance (DA).  He said the president had used the word 
"frustration" to describe his concerns in this regard and 
that the Secretary had pledged to look into the matter. 
USAID Administrator Natsios, Youssuf said, had pointed out in 
their meeting that DA "is subject to congressional monitoring 
and was more difficult to use without approval of Congress." 
With Economic Support Funds (ESF), Youssuf stated, Natsios 
had said ESF could be used more in keeping with "government 
preferences."  Youssuf continued that Guelleh had pointed out 
to Natsios that ESF was not a guaranteed form of assistance 
and that this reality was of primary concern to Djibouti for 
planning purposes. 
 
5. (C) Also in the meeting with Natsios, Youssuf stated that 
issues of energy and water had been raised.  Guelleh had told 
Natsios, according to Youssuf, that Djibouti would like to 
look into dedicating additional funds next year to 
development of the country's energy potential.  Djibouti 
wants investment in geothermal and wind energy, especially in 
the outlying areas where demand for energy is far less than 
in the capital and where a source such as wind energy might 
make an immediate and constructive difference. 
 
6. (C) With NSC Director Courville, Youssuf praised the 
content and quality of the meeting.  He said the delegation 
had discussed with her how Djibouti could attract investments 
that might enable it to develop further its limited natural 
resources.  Youssuf indicated that there might, for example, 
be an opportunity for Djibouti to link with the U.S. retailer 
"Target" to market bath salt crystals whose raw materials 
would come from Djibouti. 
 
7. (C) Youssuf also spoke of his satisfaction with the 
outcome of the delegation's meeting with the International 
Republican Institute (IRI) which had led preliminary 
observations of Djibouti's presidential election in the week 
preceding the national vote.  He said IRI told the delegation 
that participation of all components of the political society 
was essential in order to lay the foundation for developing a 
democratic country.  IRI had indicated its belief, he 
continued, that there was great hope for democracy in 
Djibouti and had stressed the importance of the role of a 
viable opposition.  Ambassador affirmed the position of IRI 
and said it was also her intent, as we work with the 
Government of Djibouti to assist in further 
democracy-building, to meet as well with opposition members 
to help them focus on what is expected and required of an 
opposition in a democratic society.  She said she was not 
sure that was well understood by current opposition leaders 
more focused on opposing actions, on general principle, than 
in setting the stage for discussions about opposing ideas. 
Ambassador also said there might be room for IRI to assist as 
well in this regard. 
 
8. (C) Ambassador expressed pleasure overall that the visit 
had gone well and that the President had decided to make the 
journey.  Youssuf thanked the Ambassador for her personal 
efforts in trying to make it happen.  Speaking 
confidentially, he said he thought the idea had initially met 
 
SIPDIS 
some resistance from Ambassador Olhaye in Washington, "who 
had had his own agenda" and who preferred to wait to set up a 
higher level visit, perhaps later in the year.  Youssuf said 
he had convinced Guelleh that it is important to go now 
because of the critical nature of the base lease negotiations 
underway in Washington, the start of his new mandate for a 
second six years in office, and because there could be no 
guarantee of getting on President Bush's calendar before the 
end of the year. 
 
9. (C) Strategically speaking, Youssuf added that Djibouti is 
increasingly realizing that its approach to diplomatic 
relations with the United States has to be on many levels. 
Relations with members of Congress, for example, and with 
other agencies will become increasingly important as the 
relationship with the U.S. deepens.  He said one of the 
advantages of having Olhaye in Washington is his expertise in 
this regard. 
 
10. (C) Comment:  We expect significant energy and change at 
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs now that the youthful Mahmoud 
Ali Youssuf has assumed fully the mantle of Minister of 
Foreign Affairs.  He is the diplomat's diplomat, fully fluent 
in three world languages -- Arabic, English, and French -- 
and has won the hearts and respect of the entire diverse 
diplomatic corps in Djibouti as well as Djiboutians.  We will 
likely see greater dynamism and boldness in a Youssuf tenure, 
and the first inkling of this was his deftness in pulling off 
the Guelleh visit to Washington as a follow-on stopover from 
a Brazil trip.  It gave Guelleh the legitimacy he sought 
after winning his second mandate in a one-candidate race. 
The visit can be seen also as having laid the groundwork for 
a stopover in France immediately after, where Guelleh was 
received by President Chirac, despite continuing difficulties 
relating to the sensitive Borrel case now pending before a 
French court.  End comment. 
RAGSDALE