DJIBOUTI/ERITREA: FRENCH MFA ASSESSMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 001116 SIPDIS EUCOM PLEASE PASS AFRICOM E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/12/2018 TAGS: PREL MOPS PINS ER DJ FR SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI/ERITREA: FRENCH MFA ASSESSMENT REF: DJIBOUTI 472 Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, 1.4 (b/d ). !. (C) SUMMARY: MFA DAS-equivalent Helene Le Gal on June 12 said that fighting between Djibouti and Eritrea had subsided somewhat by the late morning of June 12. France was providing significant support to Djibouti but has made it clear that it was not planning to engage in combat on Djibouti's behalf. Le Gal said that France was advising both countries to stop this "senseless" conflict and to seek peaceful ways of resolving their border dispute. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) MFA AF/E DAS-equivalent Helene Le Gal on June 12 provided an overview of the Djibouti-Eritrea conflict, which she said began on June 10 when Djiboutian military elements refused to return to Eritrea several Eritrean soldiers who had earlier deserted to the Djiboutian side (reftel). A few shots were fired and the confrontation quickly became a battle. Fighting continued through June 11, but Le Gal said that it had diminished by the late morning of June 12. There had been a number of casualties, some the apparent result of friendly fire. Le Gal reported that French medical teams assisting wounded Djiboutian soldiers noticed shrapnel injuries caused by mortar rounds. Le Gal said that only Djiboutian units had mortars, and the GOF concluded that the injured soldiers must have been wounded by mortar rounds launched by other Djiboutian troops. Tactically, Le Gal said that the Djiboutians had retreated from the top of a hill (NFI) the summit of which they had occupied face-to-face with Eritrean troops before the fighting erupted. The Djiboutians had ceded control of the hilltop to Eritreans. Le Gal added that there had been no reinforcement of Eritrean units since the beginning of the conflict. ¶3. (C) Le Gal said that France was providing, in her words, a "phenomenal" level of assistance. All Djiboutian wounded were being treated at French military hospitals. The French were evacuating all the wounded from the battle zone. French units were conducting aerial reconnaissance and sharing the resulting information with the Djiboutians. Le Gal said that a French warship was being dispatched to the area. A significant French military presence was located about 20 kilometers behind the forward Djiboutian forces. "We are the de facto second line of defense," Le Gal said. She added that the GOF had informed Djiboutian authorities that France had no intention of entering into combat on Djibouti's side. Le Gal indicated that, treaty obligation or no treaty obligation, France clearly hoped that events would develop in such a way that Djibouti would not ask for direct French military intervention. (COMMENT: GOF officials have said that avoiding having to intervene in conflicts such as this was a main reason France is seeking to renegotiate the defense agreements it maintains with eight African countries, one of which is Djibouti, under which France is obligated to assist in defending a partner country if asked. END COMMENT.) The French were not happy, Le Gal said, with Djiboutian public statements that criticized France for not doing more but that failed to mention the many things the French were doing. ¶4. (C) On the diplomatic front, Le Gal said that France had advised both countries first to stop the fighting and then to find a peaceful means of resolving their border dispute. The Eritreans had assured the French that they had no "territorial demands." As she has remarked several times in the past, Le Gal said that the border issue was not worth fighting over and readily lended itself to peaceful resolution. The present conflict was "senseless" and "ridiculous." Nonetheless, the two sides had gone down this path and "it's our job to help them get themselves out of what they've gotten themselves into, despite all our counsel, and that's what we'll be trying to do." Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Fran ce STAPLETON