Gargaara is one of the most affected areas by Cyclone Sagar; thank you Djibouti for bringing much needed aid for the people in that area.

Mr Guelleh said Djibouti desires to strengthen its partnership with Kenya in developing the region and making it peaceful. Somalia peace He said Djibouti and Kenya are working together to make Somalia peaceful to ensure that the security risk that its continued instability poses to the region is eliminated. “We are in a troubled region where we are confronted by extremism and violence. That is why our militaries are in Somalia to help it regain stability because what happens in Somalia has an immediate impact on all of us,” said President Guelleh. He said Djibouti, like Kenya, is sincere in its desire to make Somalia peaceful. After the talks, President Kenyatta and President Guelleh, who arrived in the country on Tuesday, witnessed the signing of the agreements. The trade agreement will open the door for more business between Kenya and Djibouti as it will act as a facilitation mechanism. “The parties, for enhancing and facilitating trade between the two countries, shall grant each other the Most Favoured Nation Treatment in all matters relating to trade,” says part of the agreement signed on Kenya’s behalf by Industry, Trade and Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed. Livestock sector In the bilateral cooperation in the livestock sector, Kenya will work together with Djibouti in expanding the livestock business sector. Kenya will tap the experience of Djibouti in unlocking the potential in business in the livestock sector especially in exports to the Middle East. The two nations will increase trade in livestock and livestock products. The agreement was signed on Kenya’s behalf by Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture Mwangi Kiunjuri In their desire to promote greater economic cooperation, the two leaders also oversaw the signing of an agreement which binds both nations to protect private or public investment in each country originating from the other. Cabinet Secretaries Monica Juma (Foreign Affairs) and Fred Matiangi (Interior and Coordination of National Government) signed the other two agreements. Deputy President William Ruto and Cabinet Secretaries attended the bilateral meeting with President Guelleh and his delegation. President Guelleh's visit comes hot on the heels of the two day State Visit by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali.

Ethiopia, Djibouti May Swap Stakes in Airlines, Ports By Nizar Manek Bloomberg Deal politically endorsed while details pending, minister says Landlocked Ethiopia views tiny Red Sea state as key partner Ethiopia and Djibouti agreed to swap stakes in strategic public enterprises including airlines, ports and telecommunications companies, as the Horn of Africa neighbors pursue deeper economic integration. The deal would include exchanges of shares in Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise, Africa’s biggest carrier by revenue, Djiboutian Finance Minister Ilyas Dawaleh said in an interview. Shareholdings in companies such as the Doraleh Container Terminal and in a new oil terminal, Ethiopian Telecommunications Corp. and Djibouti Telecom SA will also be swapped, he said. While the deal has been politically “endorsed,” the two countries will form a committee to work out the details, Dawaleh said by phone April 30. Ethiopian Information Minister Ahmed Shide confirmed the agreement in a text message. The pact came as Ethiopia’s new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, made his first foreign visit at the weekend to Djibouti, the tiny state located where the Indian Ocean meets the Red Sea and that’s become a strategic hub for the U.S. and China. Landlocked Ethiopia -- which the International Monetary Fund ranks as the fastest-growing economy on the continent -- is trying to boost its export-oriented manufacturing, making it reliant on neighboring nations with ports. Dawaleh said Abiy told Djiboutian officials that both countries should start referring to their state-owned enterprises as belonging to all, rather than one nation. Abiy said in a statement on his Facebook page that officials from both countries “underlined the importance of working towards the realization of complete economic integration of the two economies.” He didn’t elaborate.

Djibouti Is Dangerously Becoming a Trigger for Transregional Destabilization By Andrew Korybko Global Research, March 09, 2018 Oriental Review 8 March 2018 The delicate balance of power in the Horn of Africa might soon be broken by the developing situation inside of Djibouti surrounding the future ownership of its main port, with the possible American-Emirati reaction to this potentially serving as a trigger for militarily activating the complex transregional alliance system that’s formed in this part of the world over the past couple of years. Making A Mountain Out Of A Molehill The tiny state of Djibouti is once again making global headlines after its government ended a contract with an Emirati port operator late last month that was in control of the country’s most important container terminal. The move followed a multi-year dispute that culminated in what Abu Dhabi decried as an “illegal seizure” of its asset, but which the national authorities said was a necessary action to end the stalemate. This seemingly insignificant commercial spat would have remained irrelevant to international politics had the US not decided to weigh in earlier this week in supporting its Emirati ally. Reuters reported that the top America military official in Africa, Marine General Thomas Waldhauser, responded to speculation in Congress that Djibouti was supposedly planning to “give [the port] to China as a gift” by ominously warning that “If the Chinese took over that port, then the consequences could be significant”. Republican Representative Bradley Byrne went even further by speculating that “If this was an illegal seizure of that port, what is to say that government wouldn’t illegally terminate our lease before its term is up?” These statements have thus turned an ordinarily uneventful dispute that’s destined for the Court of International Arbitration into a full-fledged geopolitical scandal. Djibouti’s Transregional Dimensions Djibouti is of global importance because of its location at the Bab el Mandeb strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and serves as the maritime transit location between Europe and Asia. Apart from the US, China, France, Italy, Japan, and soon even Saudi Arabia all have bases in the country, with India being able to utilize America’s by means of the summer 2016 LEMOA deal that gives each country access to the other’s military facilities on a case-by-case “logistics” basis. Furthermore, Djibouti is the terminal location for the Djibouti-Addis Ababa Railway (DAAR) that basically functions as “China’s CPEC” or the Horn of Africa Silk Road, thus explaining one of the unstated strategic reasons why Beijing chose the country for hosting its first-ever overseas military base. Ethiopia, however, is at the center of a transregional alliance system that’s sprung up in the area over the past couple of years as a result of its ambitious efforts to construct the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile River that provides most of the more famous Nile’s water. The balance of forces has seen Ethiopia band together with Sudan while Egypt – which claims that GERD will adversely affect its water supplies and therefore make it strategically dependent on Ethiopia – has sought out Addis Ababa’s nemesis, Eritrea. Moreover, the Gulf Cold War has expanded to the region, with Qatar siding more closely with Ethiopia and the UAE partnering with Eritrea, in which it has a military facility that it uses in connection with the War on Yemen. Saudi Arabia is impartial because it has military relations with Eritrea but agricultural ones with Ethiopia, even though its Egyptian partner (which practically functions as a subordinate or client state at this point) wishes that it took a stronger stand against Addis Ababa. Djibouti’s situation is much more complex than any of these parties’ because it has close relations with each of the countries that have or will have military bases within its territory, and it had previously enjoyed positive relations with the UAE prior to the port dispute. Qatar used to station peacekeepers along the Djiboutian-Eritrean border since their brief 2008 border conflict but withdrew them last summer after both states sided with Saudi Arabia in the Gulf Cold War. Approaching The Breaking Point Even though Djibouti has historically harbored suspicions of much larger Ethiopia’s intentions, especially since it became landlocked following Eritrea’s 1993 independence, its fears have been allayed ever since China got involved in DAAR and apparently convinced it that Addis Ababa has no interest in behaving aggressively towards the de-facto city-state so long as its Silk Road access to the People’s Republic is ensured. In fact, the “African CPEC” did more for building trust between these two lopsided countries than anything else could have ever done, though it wasn’t a solution for regional stability in the geopolitical sense, as is evidently seen by the transregional alliance system that was earlier described. In fact, the structural instability that now characterizes the Horn of Africa might reach a breaking point with the potential destabilization of Djibouti that might be brought about if the US and its Emirati ally join forces in pressuring this tiny country to reverse its takeover of the disputed port. Washington is already hinting that it might consider this to be a ‘national security threat’ to its interests, while Abu Dhabi is alleging that what happened is no different than the strong armed robbery of one of its most prized global assets. The groundwork has now been established for these two countries to cooperate in making Djibouti pay for what it did. Policy Toolkit The reason why this has any importance to the outside world is because it may lead to the Horn of Africa becoming a 21st-century version of the pre-World War I Balkans in the sense that a far-reaching alliance network could once again be on the brink of being militarily activated due to an unexpected and seemingly insignificant event. The two most realistic and potentially interconnected options that the US-UAE “alliance within an alliance” have at their disposal for use against Djibouti suggest that a larger conflict could easily explode by miscalculation alone, to say nothing of Machiavellian intent, thus making the historical-regional comparison an apt one: Eritrean Border Skirmish: The UAE’s Eritrean underling already has a preexisting border disagreement with Djibouti, and it wouldn’t be difficult for the wealthy patron state to tempt its impoverished client to make a move against Abu Dhabi’s new regional adversary. Color Revolution: Djibouti was briefly rocked by pro-Islamist Color Revolution unrest at the end of 2015 that was quickly quelled by the authorities, though there’s no saying that such a scenario couldn’t be “encouraged” to repeat itself in the near future as “phase one” of an American pressure campaign. Hybrid War: The merging of conventional Eritrean aggression, Asmara’s asymmetrical use of the Al Shabaab terrorist group that the UNSC sanctioned the country for supporting, and American-backed Color Revolution unrest in the urban center would constitute a classic Hybrid War in the Horn of Africa. Realistic Responses Scenario forecasting is a difficult art so it’s with a grain of salt that one should approach this exercise, though nevertheless understanding the utility that it has in allowing one to envision the most likely responses to each of the two primary options that the US and UAE have for use against Djibouti: The Second African World War: Eritrean aggression against Djibouti could prompt Ethiopia and Sudan to take action against it, thereby drawing in Asmara’s Egyptian ally and its GCC partners, all of which might create a situation that compels the US and China to intervene at different stages and in varying capacities to uncertain ends. An Ethiopian Collapse: Ethiopia is in the throes of its second state of emergency in just as many years, and the Color Revolution blockage of DAAR might be all that’s needed to provoke the Oromo into reviving their Hybrid War campaign and possibly pushing the country past the edge of collapse. Pro-Beijing Blowback The American-Emirati destabilization of Djibouti might intentionally or unwittingly produce consequences that endanger China’s interests in the Horn of Africa, but there’s also the chance that the blowback that they produce conversely strengthens Beijing’s role in this region instead: The People’s Republic And Peacekeeping: So long as China can avoid the “mission creep” scenario that the US is pushing it towards, it might be able to manage any Eritrean-Djiboutian border tensions (and possibly others) through a peacekeeping mission like the one that it proposed last summer, therefore stabilizing the region. Diplomacy And Deal-Making: China is the best suited out of any country to mediate between all conflicting parties within the region, especially if it commits peacekeepers to the cause, and this might see its diplomacy producing the Silk Road fruit of more “win-win” deals that sustain the peace that its soldiers first attained. Peace Isn’t Possible Without The People’s Republic: The aggregate consequences of China’s military and diplomatic efforts at obtaining, securing, and advancing peace in the Horn of Africa could enable Beijing to become a stabilizing force in one of the world’s most unstable regions and consequently assist its integration into the Multipolar World Order. Concluding Thoughts The latest developments in the tiny Horn of Africa country of Djibouti might seem uninteresting for most outside observers, but upon closer examination of the broader strategic dynamics at play and the delicate balance of power between the two transregional alliances there, it becomes apparent that these unresolved and escalating events might serve as a catalyst for a larger conflict. At the risk of sounding cliché, the “stage is set” and all of the local actors are ready – and almost eager, one could argue – to “play their role” in the upcoming “drama”, with only China having any realistic chance of stabilizing the situation before it gets out of control. That said, China must also remain cognizant of the US’ desire to trap it in the quagmire of “mission creep” as a proxy means of “containing” its influence in Africa, and Beijing’s relatively ‘conservative” decision makers aren’t predisposed to overtly intervening in other countries’ affairs, though the recent case of Myanmar stands out as a notable exception and might portend a change in policy. In any case, it’s clear to see that the destabilization of Djibouti will inevitably have negative consequences for China’s regional and Silk Road interests, thereby making the most recent developments yet another example of how the US-Chinese proxy struggle is rapidly reaching every corner of the world. * Andrew Korybko is an American Moscow-based political analyst specializing in the relationship between the US strategy in Afro-Eurasia, China’s One Belt One Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity, and Hybrid Warfare.

"Amr Mozeb told the officer at the consulate his family can't stay in Djibouti. They're running out of money. He says the consular officer suggested moving them to Somaliland, which is cheaper. " These are Yemeni Americans stranded by travel ban. https://www.npr.org/2018/03/23/596356963/how-american-citizens-are-trapped-in-djibouti

This is a statement that covers Everything: Djibouti will always be the mother port for Ethiopia Ethiopia's participation in Other ports do not conflict with Djibouti, but complement 15 Billion USD has been spent on Infrastructure for Djibouti port, roads, railroad and facilities ________________________________________________ Meles Alem MFA Spokesperson Addis Ababa, March 15, 2018 (FBC) – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said Ethiopia will continue to primarily use port of Djibouti as a gateway for its import-export trade. Ethiopia’s move to develop alternative ports is useful for Djibouti as well, said Meles Alem, Spokesperson of MoFA, while briefing journalists on current issues today. However, the government of Ethiopia will continue to use port Djibouti as its main gateway for international trade, the Spokesperson reiterated. According to Meles, up to 15 billion US dollars has been spent during the past years to build infrastructures linking Ethiopia with Djibouti, such as roads, railway line and develop port. The construction of these infrastructures would contribute a lot towards facilitating and stimulating regional economic integration, he said. Regarding the Ethio-Djibouti commissioners/ and administrators meeting which was concluded yesterday, he said the two countries have agreed to prevent illegal trade, human trafficking and to further boost the socio-economic benefits of people of the two countries. Meles further indicated that Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt will hold their trilateral meeting on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Khartoum, Sudan on April 4 and 5. ____________________________________________________________________________________

This commision is so effective, at one time the border commision of Sudan and Ethiopia came to observe and learn experience in 3-4 sessions. The following issues were most threatening to border between the two countries and the results are astounding: Human trafficking is almost zero Cross border looting and banditry almost zero Terrorism almost zero Gun running and Contraband trade greatly reduced Next major issues and objectives are: Economic union of both countries Reducing inefficiencies Unified system of critical infrastructure and resources (water, electricity, roads, railroads etc)

DO you know that is real possibility? Djibouti agrees to Berbera as long as Berbera does not take more than 20% of Ethiopia's business from Djibouti Somaliland agrees will not have free trade zone, and if Somaliland is so interested will have to give up to 50% share in this free trade zone to Djibouti corporation Somaliland agrees not to start her own shipping lines for next 10 years and instead take shares in both Ethiopian and Djibouti shipping lines UAE will not change its mind and develop port of Assab for commercial purposes UAE will not develop Bassaso for Ethiopian business, but only for Somalia I am not party or representative to any of the above entities, I am too small of a man, but some British law firm is working on such a deal which of course means all these corporations will be clients of this firm and related insurance companies next.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-43188739 Oodweyne, Super power China wants continuity so does everyone else. It is easy to change Prime minister when the Bank is private and MPs are half working for other countries. Not Premiere that controls everything from the Bank to the slums. This make Ghuelleh look like a family elder.