A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) met on Tuesday with Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Prime Minister Dileita Mohamed Dileita on ways to enhance ties between the two nations, according to reports from its capital Djibouti.

China and Djibouti have strengthened their political trust and conducted mutually beneficial cooperation since they forged diplomatic ties in 1979, said Wang Jiarui, head of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee.

The two countries have maintained close coordination on international affairs, Wang said, adding that relationship between the CPC and Djibouti Popular Rally for Progress (RPP) has become an important part of bilateral ties.

China is willing to work together with Djibouti to boost mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, and strengthen exchanges between the two parties and two countries, he said.

President Guelleh, who is also RPP chairman, said Djibouti is ready to promote its pragmatic cooperation with China, a major partner of the African nation, so as to benefit the two peoples.

Prime Minister and RPP Vice Chairman Dileita spoke highly of China’s Africa policy and the Djibouti-China relations, and reaffirmed his country’s adherence to the one-China policy.

Wang arrived in Djibouti Tuesday, the last leg of his six-nation Africa tour. He has visited the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Benin, Mali and Senegal. Source: (Xinhua)

CHERRY POINT — The Hammerheads are headed for the Horn.

About 70 Marines from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 366 left Cherry Point air station Tuesday morning in route to the Horn of Africa.

It is the first full-term, seven-month deployment for HMH-366, called the Hammerheads, since it was reactivated in September 2008, according to the commanding officer, Lt. Col. Jim Harp.

The Marines boarded two buses and headed for Norfolk, Va., where they will fly on a chartered jet to the small African nation of Djibouti, located at the juncture of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and bordered by Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. Yemen is about 20 miles across the Strait of Bab el Mandeb from Djibouti.

Harp said the personnel would be providing heavy-lift capability for contingency operations in the region as part of a mission that has been ongoing for some time there.

HMH-366 has CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters based at Hangar 250 at Cherry Point, but the detachment is not taking any of the choppers there. There are four Super Stallions already at the base in Djibouti. “Once we fall in on them, the helicopters that are there will become ours,” Harp said.

Harp said that since the standup of the squadron, the Marines have been working hard to attain full operational capability. A small group of Marines from the HMH-366 started a short, three-month deployment in Iraq in November.

The duties around the Horn of Africa will be varied, he said.

“There are a whole slew of different missions they could do over there. Humanitarian assistance may be one of them,” Harp said.

Capt. Doug Given, a CH-53E pilot, said that there would be two basic types of personnel on the mission: air crew and maintainers.

“Aircrews break the birds and the maintainers fix them,” Given said.

Though their exact role has not been determined, Given said the heavy-lifting capabilities of the Super Stallions will likely be used to transport supplies and aid if needed and to support operations by the Navy SeaBees, who are constructing buildings and drilling water wells in remote villages.

“Driving there just takes days and days and days where we can get there in an hour or two,” Given said of flying the helicopters. Given will be leaving behind a wife and 3-month-old baby boy during the deployment. “It’s not fun. It was tough to leave this morning,” Given said.

Staff Sgt. Joe Barkhurst, the crew chief for the flightline shop, was leaving his 6-year-old son Josh and wife Lisa on Tuesday morning. It is Barkhurst’s first deployment in his 13-year Marine career. “It’s going to be tough, especially since it’s the first time,” he said. Josh clung to his dad in the minutes leading up to the departure.

“We spend a lot of time together,” Barkhurst said. “The communication lines are already open, so we should be able to e-mail and talk on the phone.” Source: (SunJournal)

U.S. AFRICOM Public Affairs

PARIS, France, — AIDAN O’DONNELL (RADIO FRANCE INTERNATIONALE): Thank you once again for speaking to us.

GEN. WILLIAM E. WARD: Sure.

MR O’DONNELL: Can I just ask you, first of all, you talked about increased professionalization of the various countries you’re working with – presumably better armies, better security. And the suggestion is that this leads to greater stability. Why do you feel that a better army will necessarily lead to greater stability and not to greater instability?

GEN. WARD: Because I think what you have is a – it’s not just a better army; it’s an army that functions in accordance with those things that we see as good principles, how they contribute to good governance, that responds to the legitimate government in ways that are not extrajudicial but are professional in accordance with what goes on.

If you take an example of Kenya, you know, 2 years ago, this time, Kenya was going through a very substantial governance issue associated with their elections. Their professional military stayed out of that because of that very fact — that it’s professional, and they knew how to operate in a democratic society where the army, the military, is not a part of those activities. And so we see a more professional military, not one that’s solely skilled in military tactics, but how it conducts itself – its behavior, its discipline – as a stabilizing factor.

MR O’DONNELL: You mentioned, once or twice, earlier, the question of border patrols. There are numerous clashes between various states on the very question of borders. If you’re helping a country to run a more efficient army along its border, presumably, this is giving an advantage to one country over another, in terms of a potential border dispute.

GEN. WARD: Well, the issue – and that’s why the regional business is so important. That’s why, as these nations work together regionally, that becomes increasingly, increasingly important to preclude the potential for that very thing happening. Recently, we were in East Africa – had an exercise that involved five East African nations – Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya -

MODERATOR: Uganda.

GEN. WARD: Uganda and Burundi?

COL CHILDRESS: Tanzania.

GEN. WARD: Tanzania. And they all worked together. In fact, as they were moving to conduct the exercise – the nations moving across each others’ borders – they were being greeted at the border by the next country and they were traveling together, so they all wound up in the exercise area to conduct a humanitarian assistance exercise — all together — so they get to know each other in a more effective way and their cooperating increases. It is that type of condition that we are supporting the creation of, as the nations have determined that they do, in fact, want to work together as better partners.

MR O’DONNELL: Okay. AFRICOM has asked to set it itself up in Tamanrasset and Gao. Have the respective governments approved this and will there be an installation at some point?

GEN. WARD: No, no, AFRICOM has not asked to set up in Gao or Tamanrasset. We have conducted training activities in those locations, as we have in other parts of the continent, as well. But in no way does it reflect any permanent presence.

MR O’DONNELL: Okay, we have the impression that al-Qaida in the Maghreb has abandoned the North African front to concentrate on the Sahel-Sahara strip. Is this the case and is this, for you, a new strategy on their part?

GEN. WARD: Well, I think al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb would seek to operate wherever it could find space to do so, and the vast regions of the Sahel there are areas that they would certainly look to move in. That’s why the nations of the Sahel increasing their capacity to have better control, better visibility over their vast territories, is an objective that we have, in working with those nations of the region, as well as working with other international partners.

MR O’DONNELL: Can you tell us something about the use of private military contractors by AFRICOM, or PMCs? They’re being used by African states, they’re being used by American companies and also by AFRICOM. To what extent are they being used, and are you satisfied that the necessary accountability is there?

GEN. WARD: AFRICOM does not use private military contractors.

MR O’DONNELL: Do you feel that this is something that might be used in the future, given that U.S. military resources are strained outside of AFRICOM?

GEN. WARD: I’m not envisioning that.

MR O’DONNELL: Okay. In August 2009, the U.S. assassinated a Shabaab leader using helicopters out of Mogadishu. What kind of information-gathering led to this, and is this something that we can expect to see in the future?

GEN. WARD: Well, I don’t know if I would characterize it as such. There are terrorists that are operating around the world, and our president has said, as well as the current administration, that we will pursue those terrorists, where they may be. And that is something that is an option that remains on the table.

MR O’DONNELL: In Northern Chad in 2008, we’ve seen Navy SEAL units – very small, very mobile – about 15 people – on intelligence-gathering missions. Can you tell us how widespread this kind of operation is around the continent?

GEN. WARD: I would not characterize any particular – I’m not sure what you’re talking about there. So I don’t know if there were Navy SEALS on some intelligence gathering mission at all. We do conduct security assistance and training missions with a range of our forces that operate, again, in these countries to provide training, support and assistance, as is coordinated by those partner nations. And that occurs as a part of our security assistance program in many parts of the continent.

SONIA ROLLEY (RADIO FRANCE INTERNATIONALE): Do you believe that the threat of the Shabaab to go to Yemen and to help al-Qaida there is a real threat, or it’s just talk or for publicity?

GEN. WARD: As I mentioned, I think whenever these groups say that they’re going to do something, we would take them at their word that they would do that. And we would – that would be of a concern. So I take them at their word.

MS. ROLLEY: And you believe that they have the capacity to do it? You believe that they are still an important threat in Somalia, as before?

GEN. WARD: I think so. It doesn’t take a lot to be a threat. And so I think they say that they are going to do that and I take them at their word.

MS. ROLLEY: And what about the role of Eritrea? Do you believe that Eritrea is a key country in the region, with Somalia, for example, but also with Yemen? Do you have evidence that Eritrea is a key player in these terrorist activities in the region?

GEN. WARD: Well, I think it’s a function of how these countries work to help to prevent crisis – help to create stability, as opposed to not. And that is what we would like to see all the countries be active contributors in helping to create stability – don’t see a lot of that evidence from Eritrea.

COL CHILDRESS: We have time for one more question.

MR O’DONNELL: Just to come back, finally, to the question of military contractors, if you are operating in Africa, if the U.S. government is awarding contracts to American security companies who are operating in, say, Liberia, Sudan, Somalia, does this mean that you’re then working around these companies – these entities?

GEN. WARD: I’m not quite sure – you know, we have contractors in Africa. The contractors are there providing logistic support. I’m not aware of American security contractors or companies operating in Africa conducting security activities.

MR O’DONNELL: And do you believe that – are you having to have a closer look on Nigeria, for example, because of what happened with the terrorist attempt on the plane?

MS. ROLLEY: No. There are – we have not done anything different insofar as what we are doing. We work with the Nigerians. But we haven’t done anything different. What was going with the plane – our Transportation Security Administration — and those airport and flight safety requirements — is responsible for coordinating and working those with other nations who have flights that originate in their territories that are bound for the United States.

MR O’DONNELL: Thank you very much.

(END)

Horn of Africa

London based think tank Chatham House published a briefing paper on economic drivers of conflict and cooperation in the Horn of Africa.

According to the research agency, economic relations between nations in the Horn of Africa could play a vital role in bringing peaceful cooperation to the region. However, disagreement over territorial integrity, cultural nationalism and internal factionalism have economic elements which fuel conflict or are critical to its outcome.

Further, it states the Horn of Africa remains highly violent and conflict driven within and across national borders. The fact that the region is linked together through colonial occurrences, common ecological zones and cultural interdependence, explains why disputes in one country can have political and economic significance beyond its borders.

The termination of trade between Eritrea and Ethiopia after the 1998-2000 war represents an economic driver of conflict, the report states. The border closure between Eritrea and Ethiopia caused all Ethiopian trade to be redirected via Djibouti.

The growth of trade volumes via Djibouti went up from 1.7 million tonnes in 1997 to 3.1 million tonnes in 1998 and 4.2 million tonnes in 2002. Before the conflict the port of Assab was handling 80 – 85% of Ethiopia’s international trade, with only 15 – 20% passing through Djibouti.

According to the think tank a possible return of trade between Ethiopia and Eritrea will depend on a number of factors;

• The degree of development in the economic infrastructure of  Tigray
• The availability of finance to upgrade the ports of Massawa and Assab
• The degree of competitive measures applied from Djibouti
• Low cost operation costs at ports in Somalia (Berbera port fees 40% lower than those in Djibouti)
• The development of relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia
• The alternative of road supply routes with Sudan (cheap import and exports- only 45km from Tessenei)

For  more: plesae visit the Chatham House Web page

Summary points:

• Among the drivers of conflict in the Horn of Africa economic motivations have been ubiquitous and pervasive in prompting and sustaining conflict. At other times economic drivers have exhibited a potential for peaceful cooperation. An understanding of their role and relationship with other forces of change is essential.
• Conflict in the Horn frequently has economic impacts across national borders. This paper identifies four major zones of borderland insecurity in which informal trade as much as formal relationships can both sustain conflict and offer potential for post conflict cooperation.
• Underlying the various sub-regional conflicts are a number of recurrent economic themes, including access to sea ports, livestock as a basis for livelihoods, energy related issues, the wider impact of localized conflict, drought, land rights and remittances.
• The establishment of permanent peace can only be built upon a common set of values reflecting equity, tolerance and an acknowledgment of the potential of traditional institutions in entrenching community cohesion. Only on such a foundation will specific programmes be assured of harnessing those economic drivers necessary for their success.

Flydubai

Flydubai, Dubai’s first low cost airline, is going to fly to neighbouring Djibouti and add the second African destination to its network. The inaugural flight FZ601 touched down at Djibouti Ambouli International Airport this week.

The new service will operate three times per week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, departing Dubai at 0800hrs arriving at 1015hrs local time.

The return flight, FZ602, will leave 45 minutes later at 1100hrs and arrive back in Dubai at 1515hrs local time. Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO of Flydubai, said:

“One of the reasons Flydubai was set up was to operate to second tier cities that are currently underserved by airlines flying out of Dubai. While these cities may not be large enough markets for the bigger airlines, there is still a significant amount of traffic from these markets and we believe they will be important and profitable routes for Flydubai.”

Al Ghaith added, “Djibouti has long established commercial links with Dubai, including DP World, which operates the Port of Djibouti.”

He also said that as one of the very few airlines to offer direct flights to this relatively small destination, Flydubai anticipates strong demand from both the business and leisure markets.

With a population of just half a million people, Djibouti is roughly half the size of Abu Dhabi, with a land mass of 23,000 km2 encompassing desert, highlands and plateaus. Djibouti is a republic which was formed in 1977, when the country gained independence from France. The national languages are Arabic and French.

Bordered by Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, Djibouti has a long history as a trading port and is strategically located on the Gulf of Aden.

IRIN News Agency reports that despite the fact that increased rainfall has improved the food security situation in Djibouti, many households in the Red Sea state can not afford to purchase food items due to high prices. Read more: IRIN