From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Sun Feb 22 2009 - 18:45:01 EST
Djibouti Courts Ahmadi Nejad
Written by The Media Line Staff
Published Sunday, February 22, 2009
The Djiboutian Central Bank Chief Mahamoud Haid Djama, a special envoy
of the president of Djibouti, Isma'il 'Umar Guelleh, has handed a
message from Guelleh addressed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad
during a meeting with Iranian vice-president, Parviz Davoudi, the
Iranian news agency FARS reported.
It was not clear from the report whether the visit would take place
during Ahmadi Nejad's current trip to the region, as he is currently in
Kenya in what the local paper Daily Nation reported to be a meeting
focusing on strengthening the business ties between the two countries.
In 2006, Tehran and Djibouti signed several agreements in the fields of
fisheries, health, trade and the energy sector.
Despite hosting U.S. and French army bases, the Djiboutian government
has on several occasions supported Iran's nuclear program. The true
nature of the nuclear program is one of the main points of conflict
between Washington and Tehran.
While the latter claims it will only be used for power production,
Washington, together with the rest of the West, argues that the program
will be used to produce materials used in the production of nuclear
weapons.
At the end of 2008, Djibouti asked Iran to mediate in talks between
Eritrea and Djibouti after Eritrean troops crossed over Djibouti's
north-eastern border, which sparked the Djiboutians to fire in
retaliation.
Djibouti is generally seen as an island of calm in an otherwise stormy
region, most notably the civil war that has been raging in southern
neighbor, Somalia, for the past 18 years.
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=24335
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