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Interview with President Ismail Omar Guelleh

[Djibouti] President Ismail Omar Guelleh. irin
President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti
During a tour of the Horn of Africa region, IRIN was granted an interview with Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh. He discussed the internal situation in his country, regional issues and the Somali peace process. Here are the main points of the interview: QUESTION: What are the biggest problems faced by Djibouti? ANSWER: Djibouti has the same problems as all developing countries. Unemployment, malnutrition and so on. We also have a home-grown problem of drugs, immigrants – not just those who come to look for work but those who use Djibouti as a transit country. Every day, people die at sea – they come from Ethiopia and Somalia mainly, trying to board boats in Djibouti and leave Africa for what they think is a better life. Often they are thrown overboard – it’s a tragedy. We do all we can to stop those who want to profit from these people. We put them in jail, but there are still those who find clients – they give false hope to people ... There is of course of a problem with HIV/AIDS, because we are a transit point. Also as we are a Moslem state, it is difficult to educate people and encourage them to take precautions. We have signed a big programme with the World Bank, to the tune of US $ 12 million, aimed at controlling AIDS. Q: What are your requirements in terms of aid? A: We are not among the biggest beneficiaries of international aid. It does not correspond to what we would like to do. But we do get support – and we stay within the framework set by the IMF and the World Bank. We also have pretty good investment from the Arab financial institutions, particularly in terms of infrastructure. And the Americans are also our friends. The head of USAID is coming here for the first time ever. Q: So you have benefited from having the US military base in Djibouti? A: Well we didn’t put out any advertisements! But undoubtedly we have benefited from this. The USAID people are so rigorous, if they hadn’t approved of the situation in Djibouti, if they hadn’t found a favourable climate, a transparency - they would not be coming. They are particularly looking at the field of education, but also health issues. Q: You touched on security issues. Recently you expelled thousands of illegal immigrants ... A: No, we didn’t expel them. We invited them to leave and to return to their countries [mostly Somalia and Ethiopia] with all their possessions. I recently signed a decree amnestying those immigrants who are in our jails and they have gone home. Q: Well I guess they preferred that option! But what about those who weren’t in jail? A: Well they left of their own accord. But some remained, and they are currently staying at a camp in Djibouti while the eligibility commission assesses their cases for remaining in the country. They have to prove they are being persecuted at home and then they might have a case for refugee status. There are two classes of refugees. The rural refugees leave their country, not because they are persecuted but because they are fleeing conflict at home. But as soon as the situation normalises they can return home. So it’s more the urban refugees who may be persecuted. But there are very few of them here. Q: But these immigrants have been here for many years. Why have you decided to send them home now? A: Because we have gone beyond our tolerance threshold. There was not one street which was devoid of them. They were squatting everywhere, sleeping on pavements, taking all the small jobs – it became intolerable. There was a risk of the situation exploding. Particularly with the unemployment we have. Djiboutians were really fed up and we had to take measures to stop a potentially huge problem developing between our people and these illegal immigrants. Q: So your decision was not influenced by outside, by the Americans for example? A: Not at all. They protect themselves. They don’t need us to protect them. Q: They have their counter-terrorism base here. How does that work? A: They feel at ease here. They don’t disturb anybody and they are not disturbed. For example there are 1,200 km of coastline in Eritrea but they were not able to go there because the Ethiopians would not have been happy. They didn’t want to upset either side. Q: What effect has the American presence had on Djibouti? A: Substantial economic benefits. Over 1,000 people have found employment, local businesses are engaged, they are making some considerable investments – the port, the airport, they are building parking lots, taxi ranks and so on. And have you ever seen the dismantling of an American base – apart from the Philippines? So they will be here for a long time. It has definitely had a positive effect on Djibouti. Q: The American envoy Mr Yamamoto was visiting here recently. What did you discuss? A: Well it was this problem between Ethiopia and Eritrea. He wanted to get a regional perspective. But this issue of Badme now seems insoluble. Q: What role is Djibouti playing to try and resolve this problem? A: They are both very tough people. Those who give economic aid are the ones who could find a solution. We have done all we can, but we don’t want to damage the good relations we share with both countries. I’ve done what I had to do, I talked with the leaders of both countries. I didn’t try to mediate but I weighed up the effects of what it meant to each of them ... However I don’t think they will resort to war. Q: Isn’t there a sort of contradiction in your relations with Ethiopia? On the one hand you have good economic ties because Ethiopia relies heavily on the port of Djibouti, but politically you have very strong differences regarding the Somali issue? A: We have agreed not to make it an issue between ourselves. We avoid discussing it because we have very different points of view, but we do not want to negatively influence our bilateral relations. Our temperaments are very different and we react differently to problems. Q: Yes but it seems you have lost patience because your envoy has pulled out of the Somali peace talks [underway in Nairobi]. A: Yes, but that is not an issue with Ethiopia – it’s an issue with Kenya who thinks Djibouti is just a small country and that Ethiopia represents its interests. So it gave more importance to Ethiopia and ignored our point of view. We tried to tell them that the committee [of frontline states steering the talks] was purely technical and that the Somalis should run their own peace talks. But [Bethwel] Kiplagat [Kenyan chairman of the talks] wanted to decide everything and did not create a situation favourable to handing back the conference to the Somalis. When the Somalis met here in Arta, it was they themselves who made their own decisions. We just facilitated the process. Kiplagat has badly managed the whole affair and we were obliged to pull out. Q: What is the future of the peace talks in Kenya? A: Well we’ll see. Discussions are underway, our envoy is still in Nairobi. But the illness has to be treated ... We are fed up of the Somali issue. You have a group of people who are holding their country hostage. They don’t want to move forward. They just defend their own interests. They don’t want to create the necessary conditions for the people to express themselves, and nobody can remove them. There are 800 people in Nairobi gorging themselves at the expense of the international community while the people back home are dying of hunger. They couldn’t care less about their people. How can you still give those people any importance? We are really in a corner ... It’s very discouraging. And at the end of the day, the real problem is the warlords. I’m not even sure an international tribunal is the answer. To want to continue to harm your people is a crime that can’t be judged except by God. I really don’t know what the solution is. Q: Do you think the technical committee should be enlarged, given the current difficulties? A: No, I don’t believe enlarging it and bringing more outsiders is going to increase the chances of success. I think the talks should be run by the Somalis, and outsiders should only have the role of facilitators. Q: How are your relations with the TNG? A: The error we made after the TNG president was elected in Arta [in 2000] was to think this was a normal situation in a normal country. We thought - there have been elections, he will form a government of 25 members and so on. But of course in reality it was a completely ruined country where militias and killers ruled the streets. If, at that moment, the president had said – I can’t go there unless I am accompanied by everyone including the international community and our first priority is to disarm the people - if he had said that perhaps we would not now have a government which is said to have failed, when in reality it hasn’t been allowed to carry out its mission. The renaissance of the police, administration etc became a source of corruption and the people were forgotten again. There is now a lassitude. Every time the people regain hope, they are knocked back again. Q: What about your relations with Somaliland which is your immediate neighbour? A: It is going the same way as the south – there are now fundamentalists who want to destabilise the situation. Unless the south is stable, Somaliland cannot be stable, contrary to what they think… And of course we support a united Somalia. We cannot allow ourselves to advocate secession, but if they come to some agreement then that’s fine with us.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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