Viewing cable 07DJIBOUTI1414, DJIBOUTI REPLACES DUBAI AS A FOOD FOR PEACE

VZCZCXRO1384
OO RUEHDE
DE RUEHDJ #1414 3361323
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 021323Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8875
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE
INFO RHPIGXW/CJTF HOA IMMEDIATE
RUEHDJ/USLO DJIBOUTI DJ IMMEDIATE
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 0194
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA PRIORITY 3744
RUEHAE/AMEMBASSY ASMARA PRIORITY 2264
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM PRIORITY 0157
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI PRIORITY 3327
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI PRIORITY 0185
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

S E C R E T DJIBOUTI 001414 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID FOR ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR 
ALMQUIST AND EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT FEINSTEIN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2032 
TAGS: DJ EAID ECON ET FAS MAS MOPS PINR PM PREF
PREL, PTER 
SUBJECT: DJIBOUTI REPLACES DUBAI AS A FOOD FOR PEACE 
PRE-POSITIONING SITE; PRESIDENT GUELLEH WARNS OF 
MALNUTRITION, BORDER TENSIONS 
 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR W. STUART SYMINGTON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B)(C)(D) 
 
¶1. (C) In a November 26 meeting, Djibouti's President Ismael 
Omar Guelleh warmly thanked USAID Assistant Administrator for 
Africa Kate Almquist for the U.S. decision to make Djibouti 
the new site for pre-positioned Food For Peace aid in the 
region (replacing Dubai). Guelleh called the decision a vote 
of confidence in Djibouti's strategy to partner with Dubai 
Ports World to become a key logistical center for trade and 
transportation, as well as banking and military support. 
Guelleh, who was accompanied by Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali 
Youssuf, said United Arab Emirate investors planned to make 
Djibouti an air hub, too, launching a new regional carrier. 
Djibouti's goal for the port, Guelleh added, was to service 
the growing Ethiopian market and, after expanding port 
capacity, to increase transshipments to other countries in 
the region until they represented 30-40 percent of the port's 
business 
 
¶2. (SBU) Almquist was joined by Barbara Feinstein, the USAID 
Adminitrator's Executive Assistant, USAID/Djibouti's Janet 
Schulman, Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa Commander 
Admiral James Hart, and Ambassador. Almquist congratulated 
Guelleh on the great progress she saw in Djibouti since her 
last visit. She reaffirmed USAID's commitment to Djibouti 
and conveyed USAID Administrator Fore's regrets not to be 
able to visit at this time because of an urgent call to 
return to Washington in advance of the Middle East meeting. 
Almquist praised Djibouti for its public-private 
partnerships, and for its new University and Medical School. 
She invited Djibouti to send its University head to a 
U.S.-hosted conference on higher education next year. 
 
¶3. (C) Guelleh said malnutrition was Djibouti's greatest 
danger. He termed the problem 'alarming" and asked for USAID 
expertise, working with private sector initiatives to 
increase food security by increasing production. Djibouti is 
experimenting with green house cultivation with Indian and 
Moroccan help, it is growing crops on land loaned to Djibouti 
by Sudan (and seeking similar plots for production in 
Ethiopia), and it is planting date tree seedlings. Guelleh 
said the first harvest from the Sudan land was expected soon 
and would be some 15-20,000 metric tons of grain. Almquist 
encouraged public private partnerships to develop new food 
production. 
 
¶4. (S/NF) Turning to security, Guelleh worried that Ethiopian 
and Eritrean tensions might lead to conflict. He estimated 
at 74,000 the number of troops massed on the border and said 
that there was a real danger a spark would set off serious 
fighting. Some in Ethiopia favor "breaking" Eritrea now, he 
added, because of its support for Ethiopian revolutionaries 
and Somali insurgents. But Guelleh predicted Prime Minister 
Meles would not initiate action and that Meles could keep his 
military in check at the moment. Guelleh said that he had 
instructed his Chief of Defense to consult with the French 
Armed Forces in Djibouti and with the U.S. to consider joint 
efforts to monitor the border area and ensure that neither 
Ethiopia or Eritrea used Djiboutian territory to maneuver if 
war were to break out. (Note: The French Ambassador later 
told me that he had received that request. Under a 1977 
security accord, the French are obligated to use their 
military here to maintain Djibouti's territorial integrity. 
Our military cooperation program here includes ongoing 
efforts to enhance Djibouti's capacity to control its own 
borders, but not to provide that security ourselves. End 
Note.) 
SYMINGTON