GODJ KEEPS COSTLY FORCE ON BORDER WITH ERITREA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DJIBOUTI 001000 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2018 TAGS: DJ ER MOPS PBTS PREL SUBJECT: GODJ KEEPS COSTLY FORCE ON BORDER WITH ERITREA REF: DJIBOUTI 482 Classified By: Amb. J. Swan for reasons 1.4 (b)(d). ¶1. (C) Summary: The Djiboutian Government maintains some 2,000 troops -- 40 percent of the country's total military assets -- on its desolate northern border with Eritrea. Since May, the GODJ has built protective berms, a new logistics base, a new communications tower, and an upgraded observation post at its main operations center in Moulhoule. GODJ military report that the Eritreans have three battalions of troops arrayed along the border, with additional backup farther inland, and still occupy fortifications on the southern slope of Ras Doumeira. GODJ forces continue to receive a steady trickle of Eritrean deserters. There have been no incidents of cross-border exchange of fire since June. Keeping a large force (by Djibouti standards) in the remote north is a heavy burden, but the recent improvements to the Moulhoule base suggest the GODJ intends to maintain this presence indefinitely. End summary. ¶2. (C) Ambassador, USLO Security Assistance Officer, ORA Chief, and CJTF-HOA Country Coordination Element for Djibouti traveled Dec. 10 to Moulhoule, the base of operations for Djiboutian forces positioned along the border with Eritrea. The visit was conducted at the invitation of Colonel Abdurahman Cher, the head of Djibouti's naval forces, who was on a three-week rotation as senior commander in the zone. Five Djiboutian colonels take turns performing this function. ¶3. (C) Moulhoule is a remote and isolated location, reached in about two hours over dirt track (no road) from the small provincial capital Obock. Although located on the southwestern shore of the Red Sea, there is no port facility at Moulhoule; some resupply is possible by lighter. There is a small dirt landing strip capable of receiving Transaal aircraft, as well as a helicopter landing pad. On the route to Moulhoule from Obock we encountered lightly-manned but attentive checkpoints at the outskirts of Obock and on arrival and departure from Khor Angar. DISPOSITION OF FORCES ¶4. (C) Our host, Colonel Cher, said Djibouti has assigned some 2,000 troops to the border with Eritrea. Each week, 200 are sent for R&R, leaving 1,800 on the ground. Most are forward-deployed north of Moulhoule, roughly on a line between Lisidiro and Dayli Haral and the border. The forces are drawn from units normally assigned elsewhere in Djibouti, including the Arta Rapid Reaction Brigade, units from Dikhil and Ali Sabieh, armored units, gendarmes, and national police. The units maintain a forward presence and patrol the border area as far west as Sidiha Menguela, but are mostly concentrated in the east, near Ras Doumeira. Some have armored vehicles of French, South African, or Russian manufacture. The Djiboutians keep their distance from Eritrean forces in an effort to avoid any renewal of hostilities. Djiboutian forces have had no presence on Doumeira Island since the June fighting, Cher said. ¶5. (C) On the Eritrean side, Cher estimated there were 1,600 troops along the border -- three battalions including two infantry and one tank battalion with T-55s. He said the Eritreans continue to occupy fortifications on the southern slope of Ras Doumeira. Cher personally has traveled to within one kilometer of these trenches to observe the Eritrean positions. MOULHOULE UPGRADES ¶6. (C) Since USLO SAO's visit in May (reftel),the GODJ has made significant upgrades to its presence in Moulhoule, and we observed earthmoving and other heavy equipment operating during our visit. Berms have been built both for defensive purposes and to protect troops from the constant dusty winds. There is a new logistics base with warehouse facilities and a helicopter landing pad. A new communications tower will provide improved cell-phone connectivity. With French support, the Djiboutians have also built a new glass-enclosed observation post. After the fighting in June, the French maintained a small presence in Moulhoule until September 2008, when they withdrew all forces back to Djibouti City. The French still have a small radar installation in Moulhoule, and the base is also planned as a site for the U.S. Maritime Domain Awareness program in mid-2009. ¶7. (C) Nonetheless, the Moulhoule base remains spartan, with logistics a major challenge. Resupply is by twice-weekly Transaal flights and by boat from Djibouti City DJIBOUTI 00001000 002 OF 002 to Obock and then overland by convoy. In a brief visit to the "hospital" it appeared stocked to provide only minimal first aid. Cher said any serious illnesses or injuries would require evacuation by helicopter. While Cher assured us that most forces and equipment were forward-deployed, we saw only one fuel tanker and one water tanker, a single ambulance, and a small number of four-wheel-drive vehicles at the base. Distractions for the troops were limited to a mosque in a small tent, a television, and periodic shipments of the mild narcotic qat received from Yemen. ERITREAN DESERTERS; DJIBOUTIAN MIA ¶8. (C) Cher said Eritrean deserters continue to come across the border into Djibouti. Just in the two weeks he had been in Moulhoule, he had received seven. The deserters are sent to Djibouti city for processing as appropriate by ICRC and UNHCR. Cher recalled that 19 Djiboutians, including Colonel Aden Ali Ahmed, have been MIA since the June fighting. COMMENT ¶9. (C) Moulhoule and the northern border area are remote, desolate, and inhospitable. Keeping an effective fighting force of 2000 troops in this zone would be difficult for even a well-funded and well-equipped Western military. The Djiboutian deployment is clearly a burden, and helps explain the GODJ's eagerness to resolve the dispute with Eritrea quickly and peacefully. Nonetheless, the upgrades to the Moulhoule base suggest that the GODJ intends to maintain this force indefinitely along the border. SWAN