1. (U) Poloff delivered non-paper per reftel 7 September to
Mohamed Omar Djama, Americas Desk Officer in the Bilateral
Relations section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Djama
could not provide an official reaction to the non-paper, but
told PolOff he would try to get a response soon. However,
Djama did note the communiqu printed in the 8 September
edition of La Nation, the national newspaper, from the 20th
Session of the Council of Ministers. Djama highlighted that
the Council condemned the terrorist hostage taking in Beslan,
Russia and the hostage taking of the French journalist in
Iraq. Djama continued, that each country has to make a stand
one way or another on terrorism.



2. (U) Following is text of Council of Ministers statement on
Terrorism (Unofficial Translation): Begin Text - At the
request of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Council of
Ministers has condemned the bloody hostage taking, which
ended with the massacre of innocents in the town of Beslan in
Russia. The Government of Djibouti shares the suffering of
the friendly people of Russia affected by this tragedy
without precedent and expresses its saddened condolences and
its compassion.

The Council of Ministers has also expressed its worries over
the kidnapping of the two French journalists in Iraq and has
condemned this hostage taking and demanded their immediate
release.

The Council has also demanded the release of Palestinian
prisoners detained in Israeli jails without judgment and in
conditions which degrade daily. End Text.
RAGSDALE