Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05DJIBOUTI919
2005-09-15 05:13:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Djibouti
Cable title:  

DJIBOUTI'S PROTOCOL CHIEF THREATENS SUSPENSION

Tags:  CVIS CMGT PINR PREL DJ 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS DJIBOUTI 000919 

SIPDIS

FOR CA/VO

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS CMGT PINR PREL DJ
SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI'S PROTOCOL CHIEF THREATENS SUSPENSION
U.S. DIPLOMATIC PRIVILEGES


UNCLAS DJIBOUTI 000919

SIPDIS

FOR CA/VO

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS CMGT PINR PREL DJ
SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI'S PROTOCOL CHIEF THREATENS SUSPENSION
U.S. DIPLOMATIC PRIVILEGES



1. (SBU) Summary. On September 10, Djama Elmi Darar, Chief
of Presidential Protocol, accompanied by the head of
presidential security, expressed to ConOff and Charge
d'Affaires his displeasure in not being able to procure
immediately a visa for one of the members of the security
staff chosen to accompany President Guelleh to UNGA.
Darar threatened to halt all issuance of any diplomatic
visas to Americans, refuse American duty-free imports,
delay American diplomatic vehicle registrations, and
hold back gasoline coupons until the visa was issued.
Post's coincidental receipt of SAO clearance around the
same time permitted issuance, but the issue may reappear
in future application instances.
End summary.


2. (SBU) The Djiboutian Protocol Office has repeatedly
delivered visa requests to Embassy Djibouti with the
expectation of issuance in an unreasonably short
time frame. The last diplomatic delegation to the
U.S. in May 2005, resulted in three individuals not
being able to accompany the president because they were
subject to SAOs, and did not bring their passports in
time to receive visas when the SAOs cleared.


3. (U) Given the history of last minute applications,
Embassy Djibouti formally requested, beginning in June,
that the government's Protocol Office submit
applications for the UNGA delegation as early as possible.
When the applications finally arrived at COB on Tuesday
September 6, more than several were incomplete, lacked
photographs or had invalid passports. We managed to
issue 19 out of 20 visas, but one was delayed by the
need for an SAO.


4. (U) On Saturday, September 10, a weekend, ConOff
received word that the Protocl Chief wanted an immediate
meeting regarding the case of the individual requiring
an SAO. (Note: Although an SAO clearance had been
accorded overnight, the visa still could not be immediately
authorized for technical reasons, as Embassy's parser server
is not normally rebooted on weekends.)


5. (SBU) In the meeting, also attended by the Charge,
Darar immediately brought up the visa that was still
unissued. ConOff and Charge attempted to explain that
processing, even for diplomatic visas, sometimes takes
time, and every effort was being made to expedite this
particular application. Darar responded that if the
visa were not issued within the next hour Djibouti would
cease issuance of diplomatic visas for Americans, refuse
any American duty-free imports, delay American diplomatic
vehicle registrations, and hold back coupons for purchase
of fuel. Charge said that the threat would need to be
passed along to Washington and offered Darar the chance
to retract the threat. Instead he repeated it with
emphasis, and agreed that the threat should be communicated
to Washington. During the course of the meeting, the parser
was rebooted, so that name check and FR could clear in NIV.
After Darar left, ConOff was able to authorize and
print the visa in question. The passport was picked up
from the embassy five minutes later.


6. (SBU) Comment: While the meeting itself had no impact
on the timing of the issuance of the outstanding visa, the
fact that it was issued shortly after the conclusion of
meeting will probably confirm Darar's belief that verbal
pressure can facilitate matters regarding visas. We are
uncertain if there is substance to Darar's threat to
withhold diplomatic privileges to the Embassy as a
general policy for the future. We will monitor and
apprise Washington of developments accordingly. End Comment

RAGSDALE