DJIBOUTIAN EMBASSY IN YEMEN COMMENTS ON HORN OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANAA 001139 DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP E.O. 12958: DECL: 1 JUL 2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL DJ YM SUBJECT: DJIBOUTIAN EMBASSY IN YEMEN COMMENTS ON HORN OF AFRICA RELATIONS REF: SANAA 1107 Classified By: AMBASSADOR STEPHEN A. SECHE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) Hassan Ali Hassan, deputy head of mission at the Djiboutian Embassy in Yemen, told PolOff on 30 June that tensions are still high between Djibouti and Eritrea. Hassan said the Eritrean Army has encroached into Djibouti to the city of Moulhole. There have been several attempts to enter into negotiations with Eritrea. Yemen, the UN Security Council and African Union have all tried to bring the country to the negotiating table, but it refuses, Hassan said. Currently in some areas the Eritrean and Djiboutian armies are as little as 5 meters apart and Hassan opined it would only take a small mistake for the situation to escalate into open warfare. Hassan commented that Djibouti has made several offers, but has no idea what Eritrea wants. ¶2. (C) Hassan commented that Yemeni-Djibouti relations are good, but that Djibouti has not entered into the Sana'a Forum for fear of Eritrean reaction (reftel). Eritrea is adverse to Djibouti playing a role in any negotiations within the Horn of Africa and was upset that the UN selected Djibouti as the site for Somalia-Ethiopia negotiations. He opined that possibly Eritrea fears successful completion of peace talks between Somalia and Ethiopia would free large numbers of Ethiopian troops to man the borders between Ethiopia and Eritrea. SECHE