1. (C) Summary: In one of several conversations (reftel B and
septel to follow) with the participants of the recent forum
held to discuss decentralization and the special status for
Djibouti City, Embassy spoke with the Director of
Decentralization in the Ministry of Interior, Siradj Omar
Ali. While the forum was attended by only the parties in the
government coalition, and one non-aligned, independent party,
there was a significant and varied debate on several of the
articles in the proposed law. Ali saw the forum as a success
and outlined the Ministry's next steps of preparation for
regional elections. He said the Ministry was planning to have
theatrical sketches, informational tour, and micro-projects
as part of the public education program on decentralization
and regional elections. End Summary.



2. (C) The July 2-14 Decentralization Forum held in Djibouti
was a success according to the Director of Decentralization
in the Ministry of Interior, Siradj Omar Ali. The forum was
organized by the Minister of Interior, who personally invited
all political parties to discuss the proposed draft of the
Special Statute for Djibouti City. Ali was satisfied with the
outcome of the forum and felt the experience had been very
valuable to all participants. He said now that the forum had
been completed, the next step would be to educate the people
on what decentralization means. Ali stated the draft of the
law, with its amendments from the forum, is due for a vote by
the government in September.



3. (C) The first step of the Ministry of Interior's awareness
campaign would be theatrical sketches similar to a past
project with the International Republican Institute, which
organized a street theater to educate civil society on the
first decentralization law. Ali said these sketches will
occur twice in each region and will explain the different
aspects and stakes of regional decentralization. He said the
Ministry has to show exactly the role of each person elected,
of the state, and of civil society. Ali said after this
campaign there would be a training program for those elected.
He said also there is funding available from the World Bank
and the African Development for construction of buildings for
the Council of Djibouti, which will be constructed by ADETIP,
a Djiboutian contracting company.



4. (C) Ali brought up several programs Djibouti would like to
implement, but is still searching for funding. He said
Djibouti is looking to the United States as a possible
partner in this effort. The Minister of Interior is currently
doing a public information tour in the regions. Ali would
like to augment this with a series of micro-projects at a
value of 50,000 USD. He said he will be proposing these
projects to USAID shortly. In addition, for the
decentralization process itself, the Ministry will have to
need a meeting with all the technicians of each ministry to
see which activities are transferable to the region and to
what extent. The budget of each ministry involved would then
be cut by that amount and transferred to the Regional council
budgets. Ali said there must be international experts on
decentralization to accompany the projects, another point he
would raise with USAID.
RAGSDALE