SOMALIA - IGAD DEPLOYMENT PLAN AND DJIBOUTI

C O N F I D E N T I A L DJIBOUTI 000289 SIPDIS STATE FOR AF AND AF/E PARIS AND LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHER E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/20/2015 TAGS: PREL PGOV SO DJ SUBJECT: SOMALIA - IGAD DEPLOYMENT PLAN AND DJIBOUTI REF: SECSTATE 47850 Classified By: Ambassador Marguerita D. Ragsdale. Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). ¶1. (C) Ref Message reached post after the departure of the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Arab League Summit in Algiers. In his absence, Ambassador presented the demarche March 20 to Ahmed Ali Bogoreh, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and highest ranking official currently at the Ministry. Bogoreh is not directly active on Somalia issues, and is primarily a conduit. As usual, he pledged to pass our message to the highest levels of Djibouti's government. ¶2. (C) Both the Acting Foreign Minister and President Guelleh are due to return to Djibouti on/about March 25 from Arab League meetings in Algiers. We will re-visit Somalia in general with the Acting Foreign Minister at that time. We note that when Prime Minister Dileita Mohamed Dileita was in Ethiopia March 9, he is said to have agreed with Kibaki and Meles that Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti would not/not send troops to Somalia but that the IGAD states of Uganda and Sudan would. We have not independently confirmed this. RAGSDALE