GUELLEH WILL NOT TRAVEL TO SUDAN DESPITE SALEH'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L DJIBOUTI 001618 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/23/2014 TAGS: DJ ODIP PREL SA SO SU YM SUBJECT: GUELLEH WILL NOT TRAVEL TO SUDAN DESPITE SALEH'S URGING REF: A. DJIBOUTI 1617 ¶B. SANAA 3144 ¶C. STATE 271223 ¶D. KHARTOUM 1717 Classified By: Ambassador Marguerita Ragsdale. For reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Minister of Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, confirmed today that Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh will not/not travel to Sudan at the end of the month to attend the axis meeting of Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen (see reftel A). Youssouf told Ambassador Ragsdale that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh did talk to Guelleh via phone earlier this week and attempted to convince him to attend the meeting, but that Guelleh reiterated the standing Djiboutian position on the axis: It has an anti-Eritrean political agenda and that meetings promoting regional welfare should include all Horn of Africa states or be mediated through IGAD (see reftel A). Djibouti does not wish to embark on such a program, Youssouf said. RAGSDALE