DJIBOUTI PRESIDENT VISITS BORDER TO ASSESS

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 DJIBOUTI 000389

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF, AF/E, INR/AA AND INR/GGI
CJTF-HOA FOR POLAD
LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA-WATCHER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2018
TAGS: PREL PINR MOPS PBTS DJ ER SO
SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI PRESIDENT VISITS BORDER TO ASSESS
ERITREAN INCURSION

REF: A. DJIBOUTI 388 (NOTAL)

B. DJIBOUTI 380 (NOTAL)

C. DJIBOUTI 377 (NOTAL)

D. 04/21/2008 MCMULLEN-WONG EMAIL

Classified By: ERIC WONG, CHARGE D'AFFAIRES A.I. REASON: 1.4 (B) AND (
D).


1. (U) ACTION REQUEST. See paragraph 8.


2. (S) SUMMARY. Helicopter reconnaissance of Ras Doumeira on
April 22, by Djibouti's President and Foreign Minister, found
Eritrean troops, tents, and fortifications at the disputed
border. Djiboutian and Eritrean military representatives
will hold a "technical" meeting on April 24, in order to
review the boundary at Ras Doumeira. Djibouti's FM may
travel to Asmara, in order to assure the GSE that the U.S.
military presence in Djibouti is not aimed at destabilizing
Eritrea. While Djibouti hopes for a diplomatic solution, it
considers Eritrea "unpredictable," and warns that "any act of
aggression on Djibouti would have to be answered." END
SUMMARY.


3. (S) Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf
informed Charge on the evening of April 22 that he had
accompanied President Guelleh earlier in the day to visit, by
helicopter, the site of an Eritrean military encampment on
disputed territory at Ras Doumeira (refs B-C). FM Youssouf
said the GODJ had asked Eritrea to withdraw its troops from
the mountain at Ras Doumeira, but that Eritrea had now
deployed "hundreds of armed soldiers" there. The Djiboutian
military was reporting that Eritrea was sending additional
troops to the border, he said, and tensions were increasing.
Eritrean tents, foxholes, and fortifications had been visible
at Ras Doumeira.


4. (S) Charge informed the Foreign Minister that the USG had
raised the issue earlier with the GSE in Asmara, and that
Isaias, senior foreign policy advisor Yemane Ghebreab had
informed Embassy Asmara that Eritrea had no claims on
Djiboutian territory (ref D). FM Youssouf said that in an
April 21 telcon, President Isaias had made the same assurance
to President Guelleh, asserting that Eritrea had "no
ambitions" on Djiboutian territory. Despite this statement,
however, Eritrea had "planted troops on the border".
Djibouti did not seek to start any hostilities, Youssouf
said, but he expressed concern that Eritrea was
"unpredictable," and that "any act of aggression on Djibouti
would have to be answered." Youssouf said he was conveying
the same information to French Ambassador Dominique DeCherf.

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DJIBOUTI'S FOREIGN MINISTER MAY TRAVEL TO ASMARA
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5. (S) FM Youssouf said Djibouti still hoped for a diplomatic
and political solution. He said Djibouti and Eritrea had
agreed to conduct a "technical meeting" among military staff
representatives on April 24, in order to compare maps and
understandings about the demarcation of the border. Youssouf
said the subsequent step would be for him to travel to Asmara
to explore "a way to end this deadlock."


6. (S) Asked whether the GODJ sought a public statement from
the USG on this situation, FM Youssouf agreed that a public
statement by the USG now would not/not be helpful. He noted
that an objective of his trip to Asmara would be to reassure
the GSE that the U.S. (military) presence in Djibouti was
"not oriented against Eritrea." (NOTE: Djibouti hosts
2,200-2,700 U.S. troops at Camp Lemonier, home to the
Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, and the only U.S.
military base in Africa. END NOTE.)


7. (S) COMMENT. Eritrea's recent establishment of structures
on previously uninhabited Ras Doumeira, near the Bab al
Mandab strait, may reflect escalating tensions with
neighboring Ethiopia. Another likely possibility is that it
represents an Eritrean attempt to deflect from Djibouti's
ongoing efforts with the UN SRSG for Somalia (ref A) to host
Somali peace talks between the Transitional Federal
Government (TFG) and the Asmara-backed Alliance for the

DJIBOUTI 00000389 002.2 OF 002


Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS). END COMMENT.


8. (S) ACTION REQUEST. FM Youssouf's first-hand observations
of numerous Eritrean tents and fortifications on Ras Doumeira
is consistent with recent imagery of Ras Doumeira that Charge
and GRPO have been authorized to pass to appropriate GODJ
principals on April 23. What remains unclear, however, is
exactly where the boundary between the two countries lies.
Given the wealth of information prepared by the Department in
an effort to support the demarcation of
the Ethiopia-Eritrea boundary, Post requests Department
review whether any information--graphics, imagery,
imagery-derived products, or maps--is available on the
Djibouti-Eritrea boundary dispute, especially related to 1994
hostilities at Ras Doumeira. If such information is
available and can be released to the GODJ (and/or GSE) before
the April 24 technical meeting with Eritrean officials, it
may help defuse escalating tensions. END ACTION REQUEST.
WONG