1. (U) Ambassador conveyed to General Fathi Ahmed Hussein on
December 18 an oral brief of current status of the Djibouti
FMS program and the specific projects outlined in the letter
of October 10, 2005 from the Djiboutian Army's Chef d'Etat,
General Zakariya Cheik Ibrahim. She promised a subsequent
written response as soon as the final text was received from
Washington. Post received this text on December 22 and an
English language version, at General Fathi's request, was
hand-delivered to him the same day. Embassy's French
translation is complete and will be personally delivered by
USLO Chief on December 24.



2. (U) Comment: During our meeting, General Fathi had little
to say about the substance of the Ambassador's presentation.
He maintained, however, his concern about the lengthy
delivery schedules for FMS assistance and continued to
highlight the link between FMS and Djibouti's security needs.
As for the five 44-foot motor lifeboats, General Fathi
concurred, to avoid delays in delivery, in retention of the
fifth boat as a floating hull to be used as spare parts.
RAGSDALE