DJIBOUTI SEEKS MULTILATERAL SUPPORT ON ERITREAN

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 DJIBOUTI 000424

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF, P, IO, S/CT, PM, AND INR/GGI
CJTF-HOA FOR POLAD
LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA-WATCHER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/30/2018
TAGS: PREL MOPS PBTS PHSA UN DJ ER AU
SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI SEEKS MULTILATERAL SUPPORT ON ERITREAN
BORDER INCURSION

REF: A. DJIBOUTI 394 (NOTAL)

B. DJIBOUTI 393 (AND PREVIOUS) (NOTAL)

Classified By: Ambassador W. Stuart Symington for reasons 1.4 (b) and (
d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Djibouti's Foreign Minister called in
Ambassadors today to say that the GODJ is now seeking an
international fact-finding mission to visit the
Djibouti-Eritrean border at Ras Doumeira (adjacent to the
strategic Bab-al-Mandeb strait),assess the situation, and
assist Eritrea and Djibouti in reducing tensions. He
described several Djiboutian bilateral approaches to Eritrean
President's Chief of Staff and another senior GSE advisor,
but noted Eritrean insistence that it was "acting on its own
territory." He said Eritrea refused bilateral discussions,
claiming that Djibouti had overly publicized the incident.
The FM reported that troops remain only yards apart near the
ridgeline of the Ras Doumeira hill that defines the
Djibouti-Eritrean border. He announced that he had
instructed his PermReps to the African Union (AU) and the
United Nations (UN) to request this international
intervention. Asked what Djibouti sought, he replied that
Djibouti wanted the international community to understand the
facts of the situation; advance apeaceful, negotiated
solution; help avoid incidents that could lead to a crisis of
another kind; convince Eritrea to withdraw troops from the
immediate border area (noting that Djibouti would do the
same); and begin a process that would result in the physical
demarcation of the ridgeline of the hill that Djibouti says
is the "unequivocal" boundary between the two countries. END
SUMMARY.


2. (S) Djiboutian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf
convened diplomatic corps representatives on April 30 to
protest the recent incursion of Eritrean troops on Djiboutian
territory at Ras Doumeira (reftels). In a meeting attended
by French, Chinese, Russian, Ethiopian, and U.S. Ambassadors,
FM Youssouf displayed photographs clearly depicting a
trenchline that he said was 1) dug by the Eritreans over the
last two weeks and 2) clearly on the Djiboutian side of the
hill ridgeline that he said defines the border. Asked by the
French and Chinese Ambassadors if there were at this moment
Eritrean troops on the Djiboutian side of the border, the FM
said that, after President Guelleh's April 22 visit to the
border area (ref A),the Eritreans had "returned," and were
now mere yards away from the Djiboutians on the hilltop. (As
of today, French military sources confirmed that some 40
Eritrean troops were face to face with about 100 Djiboutian
troops). FM Youssouf said that Djibouti's principal concerns
were 1) that the border be defined and respected, 2) that any
incident between the troops be avoided, 3) that this vital
area not be militarized on the Eritrean side, and 4) that the
Bab-al-Mandeb strait not be shadowed or threatened by a
military base.


3. (C) The FM noted that Djibouti and Eritrea have long been
peaceful neighbors. He also noted that while Eritrea has
"nothing to lose," Djibouti has much at stake in maintaining
peace so that it can develop, and does not want the
world--especially investors--to associate Djibouti with the
words "border crisis." Asked by the Russian and Ethiopian
Ambassadors about the timing of the incident, FM Youssouf did
not draw an immediate link to Djibouti's upcoming role in
hosting Somali political conferees from the Transitional
Federal Government (TFG) and the Asmara-backed Alliance for
the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS). He noted that Djibouti
and Eritrea had long understood that they would work together
to improve the road link between their countries at Ras
Doumeira, but that Eritrea's recent diversion of the road
represented an unwelcome and dangerous step. This briefing
was conducted largely in French and English. Immediately
afterwards, the FM held a separate meeting in Arabic with
Ambassadors from Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Qatar, Libya, and the
Palestinian Authority.


4. (S) COMMENT: Ambassador will meet later today with the
French, Chinese, and Russian Ambassadors to discuss the
Djiboutian request for AU and UN attention. These

DJIBOUTI 00000424 002 OF 002


Ambassadors shared a concern that this issue be resolved
quickly. Post urges close USG coordination with France on
this issue and support for multilateral efforts to advance a
quick and peaceful resolution that reduces immediate border
tensions and avoids any militarization of this vital shipping
lane. Post also supports USG interagency efforts to identify
and release appropriate imagery of Ras Doumeira to the GODJ.
END COMMENT.
SYMINGTON