Revolution in Djibouti: Dictator Ismail Omer Guelleh must go!

[Carafaat]

This thread is dedicated to support the silent revolution in Djibouti. After a rule of more then 13 years by Omer Guelleh and 34 dictatorial rule in Djibouti, the people say enough!

 

The people of Djiboui had enough of Ismail Omer Guelleh. Omer Guelleh is one the the last remaining dictators. His friends Gadafi, Hosni Mubarak, Ben Ali and Salah from Jemen were all over thrown by their people.

 

In Solidarity with our brothers and sisters from Djibouti we say, Omer Guelleh must go!

 

 

 

 

[Carafaat]

 

 

check 2.19min one of the last remaining dictators.

 

 

 

 

Opposition leader Boreh fled to exile.

[Carafaat]

 

 

 

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Long live president geele

[Mukulaalow]

Waryaadahee Soomaaliyeey kiinii baad soo gubteen ummadaha kale dab ha galinina. Do you know who will be the most beneficiaries if geele goes, The Canfar will be in-charge.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

^^^War kuwaasi wa laangaab cidi waxba ma weydiso in Djibouti but it will most likely be some one else from the Geeles tribe only another subclan that wants to lead , Any way we support President ismaciil Cumar geele hay hay waliga hay this man is the best thing ever for Djibouti.

[Mukulaalow]

Xaaji Xunjuf;825832 wrote:

^^^War kuwaasi wa laangaab cidi waxba ma weydiso in Djibouti but it will most likely be some one else from the Geeles tribe only another subclan that wants to lead , Any way we support President ismaciil Cumar geele hay hay waliga hay this man is the best thing ever for Djibouti.

Xaaji, don't under estimate them, they are waiting for the right moment and never forgot the 1994 defeat, as i understand the Ciise are becoming more divided as the Furlabe branch becoming more of the opposition spearhead, but a weak Ciise will ultimately give chance to the revival of Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD) armed group, led by the radical Axmed diini Axmed who never signed for the 2000 peace accord.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Mukulaaloow waligay uma baqayo inu Canfar wax ka noqdo Djibouti haba ka yaabin since the late 1980s mass migration from Diredawe to Djibouti mass migration from Seylac to Djibouti hada qolyaha canfartu wa iska waxba yahay but its internal dispute between the leading tribe of Djibouti. the FRUD resistance was Silenced long time ago the same with other opposition coming from President Geeles Clan some are rotting in prisons others are living in exile like ina boore. They don't stand a chance when they are facing the Mighty IOG.

[Carafaat]

Djibouti politicians playing the same tribe card that led to Somalia downfall

 

To all Somali speaking population in the peninsula or abroad, Djibouti has always been a home away from home. The tiny republic has sailed its way through turbulent times and weather the danger of a chaotic neighborhood and often offered shelter to scores of refugees. During the 1977-78 , Ethic-Somali-war, thousands of ethnic Somali from Ethiopia fled Mengistu persecution following the Somali army defeat. Djibouti was equally welcoming for those who fled the Siad Barre persecution following the SNM led guerrilla war.

 

To lesser extent, Djibouti was a major hub for those heading abroad when all hell broke loose in Mogadishu. For all those reasons, Djibouti always has a special place in our collective hearts, reminiscence of the hard refugee life. How many of us now comfortably living in the West remember these days spent waiting for a foreign visa and these night spent sleeping on the beach because our Djiboutian guests could only shelter so much.

 

I recently went back to Djibouti on my way to Mogadishu and find the little welcoming place submerged by a vitriolic tribal hatred. Some Djiboutian politicians out maneuvered by president Guelleh and frustrated by his iron grip on power are playing the dangerous tribal card that led to Somali downfall. President Guelleh has many short comings and generally speaking political criticism is fair game and healthy in a democracy. But for some odd reasons, in Djibouti, opponent attacks are solely concentrated on the first lady and her family while president Guelleh and his numerous siblings are largely unscathed.

 

I was to be honest intrigued by this fact because Somali culture dictates that leaders’ wives are left alone because ultimately the political power rest with their husbands. I went for help among my Djiboutian friend and was given these details. Let me tell them for those unfamiliar with Djibouti political intrigue, president Guelleh hails from the Issa tribe while the first lady is Issaq. It seems the latter get the blame for everything that goes wrong in Djibouti.

 

If a Issa businessman seem to be doing exceptionally well, no problem. If a Issaq one is getting lucking with his business ventures, he should be getting help from the first lady. If a civil servant get a promotion, no problem. If a Issaq one move up wards, he should have gotten help from the first lady. If a Issa businessman invest in Somaliland (and scores have done precisely that, the most famous being Borreh), no problem. If Issaq one does the same, he is stealing the money from the hungry Djiboutians to feed the Somalilanders (sic).

 

Some politicians have the wicked view that the first lady (the daughter of Djibouti-born father and mother) is not a “real Djiboutian”. And that is rich coming from those who to tolerate the fact that former president Hassan Gouled was born in Somaliland while president Guelleh was born in Ethiopia. Not counting the horde of ministers and power brokers all born abroad. And that is especially rich when the one putting forwards these insane arguments are not Djiboutian by birth. The most prominent “real Djiboutian” advocate e is Daher Ahmed Farah whose daily tribal tirades against the first lady are found on lavoixdedjibouti.net.Guess what, Daher was not born in Djibouti, he came there as a preteen. The very same guy who is contesting the citizenship of the first lady was born himself on a foreign soil. Think about that.

 

When my Djiboutian friends told me that this mind boggling incongruity boiled down to the “waa loo dhashaa laakin lagumadhasho ”, shivers went down my spine. That was exactly what destroyed my country. Double standard blame can only get you so far. But it will for sure annihilate your country.

 

Mouna Ciise Mohamed

[Somalia]

He must go, I agree!

[Fiqikhayre]

Djibouti

 

The Indian Ocean Newsletter

 

June 23, 2012

 

The Two Guys wearing white shirts are President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh`s sons and the girl in the green dress is his daughter

 

The eldest daughter of Ismaïl Omar Guelleh (IOG), Fatouma-Awo is back in Djibouti, together with her new baby boy who was born in France a short while ago and her husband, an Ivorian who goes under the name of Tomy. The head of State did not originally take a very good view of this marriage, but is now reported to be highly attached to his grandson. Fatouma-Awo, for her part, would seem to have decided to resume the activity she had in Djibouti before getting married, namely managing the Independent Construction Corp. (ICC). This firm owned by the presidential family was put into liquidation at the end of 2011 (ION 1332), but it could be revived in a new form with Fatouma-Awo and her husband at the tiller. However, some people should beware, notably the EntrepriseDawaleh Construction (EDC) company owned by the MP Youssouf Moussa Dawaleh, which took over certain construction contracts that ICC had relinquished!

 

© Copyrights 2012 Indigo Publications All Rights Reserved

[Fiqikhayre]

No business without IOG`s protection

 

The Indian Ocean Newsletter

 

March 24, 2012

 

During the last few weeks, the police have questioned a Saudi Arabian businessman and a local golden boy who until then had been favourites of the presidential couple. The reasons for the police intervention were different in each case. But what they have in common is that the men in question have both lost the political protection they previously had. They were then removed from their pedestal just as quickly as they had been hoisted onto it. Our spotlight on a country where doing business is a veritable minefield.

 

Abou Yasser`s setbacks - The Yemen born businessman based in Saudi Arabia and operating in Djibouti, Cheikh Mohamed Quaid Mohamed Saïd known as Abou Yasser, was finally not able to keep the monopoly of the Centre régional d`exploitation du bétail (CREB – regional centre for the exploitation of livestock) at Dammerjog that he had been running for many years. The Djibouti authorities remembered that its period of tax exemption had expired and impounded certain of its vehicles. They did this to apply pressure on him to accept to share the CREB with a newcomer, the Saudi Cheikh Souleiman al Gabiri, who is represented in Djibouti by Saad Alharithi. However, the latter in fact wanted to oust Abou Yasser entirely and so gain the monopoly of livestock trading between Djibouti and Saudi Arabia. Some observers even believe they intend to co-finance the construction of a livestock port in Djibouti. On 12 March, the Djibouti Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Mohamed Ahmed Awaleh initialled a certificate stating that the company Ideal Quarantine, owned by the Saudi newcomer, “is in charge of managing a part of the CREB… whose area is 275 hectares”. Exit Abou Yasser! The latter may in fact be paying the price for his decision to set up a company in Berbera, Somaliland, in November 2011, to act as a regional livestock quarantine centre in partnership with the local company Indha-Deero owned by the businessman, Abdi Ali Awad (AAA). Djibouti takes a dim view of competition like this.

 

Ali Elmi`s mishaps - The former director of the NGO Nomad Aid and owner of the import-export company MCADjibouti since 1996, Ali Elmi Ahmed has recently spent several nights in the police cells for obtaining bank documents from the bank BRED, the parent company of Banque pour le commerce et l`industrie - Mer Rouge (BCI-MR) with which he was in dispute. Until then, this economic operator had been considered invincible because he is ethnically close to President Ismail Omar Guelleh (IOG). His current problems stem from a conflict against the Member of Parliament Youssouf Moussa Dawaleh, the director of the Djibouti fishing port about a fishing boat that Ali Elmi had purchased using a loan from the BCI-MR but which Youssouf Dawaleh had set his heart on. However, this MP has for a while been under the protection of the First Lady Kadra Mahamoud Haïd. His company Entreprise Dawaleh Construction (EDC) is even believed to have taken over contracts that were previously in the hands of the Independent Construction Co (ICC), the company owned by the presidential couple that closed its doors last year when the President`s daughter, Fatouma-Awo, who had been in charge of it, left the country, moving to Paris to marry an Ivorian.

 

The BOA imbroglio - The Djibouti authorities played only a minor role in the mishaps of Philippe Bouyaud, the recently sacked managing director of Bank of Africa-Mer Rouge (BOA-MR; ION 1328). They did not renew his residence permit which expired on 10 March, obliging him to leave the country three days later. Bouyaud therefore did not last long as Conseiller du commerce extérieur de la France (CCEF), conferred on him in March. For BOA-MR, his sacking is an internal disciplinary matter related to ethics. But according to our sources, Bouyaud is paying the price for deciding internal restructuring without approval of the bank`s board when he appointed Djihad Saïd as sales manager, a post desired by many in the bank, beginning with the consultant Mahamoud Souleiman and his wife, currently the head of the risk assessment service. An incident last year gave the bank an excuse to oust Bouyaud. He and Mahamoud Souleiman had gone on a private trip to Ethiopia in June 2011 in the latter`s car. They had an accident while Bouyaud was driving, who then had the bank pick up the tab for the repairs, claiming that he was on official business. A bad move!

 

© Copyrights 2012 Indigo Publications All Rights Reserved

[Fiqikhayre]

Djibouti President takes his daughter as advisor

 

The Indian Ocean Newsletter

 

November 06, 2010

 

Journalist Muha Dahir Farah (center) with the two daughters of President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh

 

It did not take long for the daughter of President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh (IOG) to find a job in Djibouti after graduating from Columbia University last May (ION 1285 ). On 22 August, Haïbado Ismaïl Omar was appointed by presidential decree to the post of technical advisor on economic affairs to the Head of State, one of the highest ranks in the civil service. She will therefore have the upper hand on strategic ministries, such as finance and investment. To help her find settle in, her father even gave her the task of organising the next forum on employment but whose main role will be to launch IOG`s campaign to be re-elected president next year. She will be assisted in this task by Fathia Djama Oudine, IOG`s diplomatic advisor - much to the dismay of the top civil servants in several ministries involved in preparing this forum. The latter consider that neither of these two young ladies has any experience whatsoever on employment issues.

 

© Copyrights 2010 Indigo Publications All Rights Reserved

[Fiqikhayre]

The better the sooner Djibouti is freed from this Dictator.

[Abu-Salman]

The 1st lady and other officials may play an unofficial or controversial role but college scholarships are entirely on merit (whether you are arab, eritrean or somali) and even the pres relatives pay heavy car duties etc.

The one clan in question is overrepresented in the Telecoms, central bank, commerce etc just like afars in Onead and many others.

 

Reforms are ongoing (tests based recruitment, proportional elections, anti corruption etc) with some successes;

clannishness comes more from all civil servants recruiting their relatives and few ambitious politicians than the cosmopolitan elites (more mixed marriages, interests before clans etc).

 

We are all involved in commerce at the family level to a varying extent and despite misconceptions, things are often different and changing; else, they would have all moved long ago to France, Canada, Somaliand etc where many are simultaneously based and other Somalis would not invest so much etc.