DJIBOUTI-ERITREA: ACTING DEFENSE CHIEF REPORTS ON

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 DJIBOUTI 000412

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2018
TAGS: PREL MOPS PBTS PHSA ER DJ
SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI-ERITREA: ACTING DEFENSE CHIEF REPORTS ON
BORDER TALKS WITH ERITREAN MILITARY

REF: DJIBOUTI 393 AND PREVIOUS (NOTAL)

Classified By: ERIC WONG, DCM. REASON: 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (S/NF) SUMMARY. Djibouti's Acting Chief of Defense, MG
Zakaria Cheikh Ibrahim, reports that an April 24 meeting with
the Eritrean military resulted in an agreement to establish a
buffer zone (along disputed territory in Ras Doumeira),but
that such a zone had not been implemented. However, MG
Zacharia indicated a DJ/ER working group would meet to
address implementation. While Djibouti seeks a peaceful
resolution to the situation on the border, it has reportedly
devoted nearly half its military forces to the area.
Separately, France reports that it has approached the
Eritrean government in both Asmara and Paris to address this
situation "quietly," believing that bilateral discussions
between Djibouti and Eritrea have not yet been exhausted.
Should bilateral talks fail, then Djibouti could raise the
issue at the African Union or the United Nations. According
to the French Ambassador, while 19th century French archival
documents do not indicate agreement on demarcation of the
border, Eritrean fortifications and coastal trenches at Ras
Doumeira are "clearly on Djibouti's side." END SUMMARY.


2. (S/NF) RDML Greene, Commander, Combined Joint Task Force -
Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) met with Djibouti's Acting Chief of
Defense, MG Zakaria Cheikh Ibrahim on April 27. Embassy
Security Assistance Officer (SAO) (note-taker) and CJTF-HOA
Country Coordination Element (CJTF-HOA CCE) accompanied RDML
Greene. MG Zakaria requested the meeting to exchange
information with RDML Greene upon his return from regional
travel. The main topic of the discussion was the recent
border incursion by Eritrea in the coastal area of Doumeira.
MG Zakaria thanked RDML Greene for providing imagery and
expressed an interest in receiving similar products if the
situation worsened. MG Zakaria also requested order of battle
and capabilities information on the Eritrean Armed Forces,
saying that his most recent assessment was from 2000.

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BUFFER ZONE REPORTEDLY AGREED ON, BUT NOT IMPLEMENTED
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3. (S/NF) MG Zakaria said that he met with an Eritrean
military leader on April 24, and that they had agreed to
establish a buffer zone, but that it had not been executed.
However, MG Zacharia indicated a DJ/ER working group would
meet to address implementation. MG Zakaria said that in some
cases Eritrean and Djiboutian troops were separated by as
little as twenty meters. He said that approximately 45 per
cent of Djibouti's army was devoted to the northern district.
(NOTE: This translates into 2,000-2,500 troops, out of a
total of 6,000 forces in the entire Djiboutian military, or
more than double the number normally stationed in the
northern Obock district. END NOTE.) Finally, MG Zakaria
expressed bewilderment concerning Eritrea's intentions and
motivations, stressing that Djibouti had always worked hard
to cooperate with its neighbors, and that Djibouti would seek
a peaceful resolution to the situation on the border.

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FRANCE: IF BILATERAL TALKS FAIL, RECOURSE TO THE AU AND UN
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4. (S/NF) In a separate meeting on April 27, French
Ambassador to Djibouti Dominique DeCherf told DCM and GRPO
that France had approached the Government of the State of
Eritrea (GSE) in both Asmara and Paris, and had urged the GSE
on April 25 to seek to reduce tensions quietly. DeCherf
confirmed that Eritrean and Djiboutian officials had met on
April 24, and that thus bilateral efforts continued. In the
event that bilateral discussions failed, one could then
approach the African Union's Peace and Security Council (AU
PSC),he said, to urge it to dispatch a fact-finding mission.
After the AU, one could bring the matter to the United
Nations; however, he underscored, bilateral approaches
between Djibouti and Eritrea had not yet been exhausted.

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TRENCHES AND FORTIFICATIONS "CLEARLY ON DJIBOUTI'S SIDE"
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DJIBOUTI 00000412 002 OF 002




5. (S/NF) DeCherf said that according to French archival
documents from 1892 and 1897, provided to Djibouti, no
boundary had been agreed on. The border between Djibouti and
Eritrea, at Ras Doumeira, was not physically demarcated, but
followed the watershed ("la ligne de crete"),DeCherf said.


6. (S/NF) Road construction at Ras Doumeira was not a
surprise, DeCherf said, noting that even the European Union
had previously discussed the need to improve the road between
Obock and Moulhoule (i.e., 15 km south of Ras Doumeira,
within Djibouti). Djibouti and Eritrea had agreed on
improving the road to Ras Doumeira, although Djibouti had not
made any improvements on its side of the road. However,
Eritrea had also built fortifications out of rock on Ras
Doumeira itself, creating "trenches, out of stone, clearly on
Djibouti's side," DeCherf said.


7. (S/NF) DeCherf cited the GSE's interest in seeking to
control the outflow of emigrants from Eritrea as a possible
motive for its establishing a military presence at Ras
Doumeira.


8. (S/NF) COMMENT. The reported agreement between Djibouti
and Eritrea to establish a buffer zone at Ras Doumeira is
welcome news, but it remains to be seen whether the GSE will
implement it. Logistical challenges and limited resources
will not allow Djibouti to sustain keeping 45 per cent of its
small military deployed along its northeastern border with
Eritrea. Some Djiboutians observe that the two countries
exchanged gunfire (and casualties) over the same area in
1994, and that tensions in 1994 and 1996 subsided only after
a show of military force by the French (e.g., the deployment
of the "Charles de Gaulle" aircraft carrier in 1994, when
significant French forces had been deployed to Rwanda). The
French Ambassador's comments on bilateral talks suggest a
French show of force in response to current tensions is
unlikely. In response to MG Zakaria's request to RDML
Greene, Post supports the release to Djibouti of updated USG
assessments on Eritrean capabilities and order of battle.
END COMMENT.
WONG