[labo22]

US government come up a face-saving strategy by pressuring Piggy behind the scene before it’s too late, US government not only has a vast interest in Djibouti, but also it has on the ground the out dated biased Agency Democracy International DI, which is meddling the internal affair of Djibouti and trying to legitimise Piggy at any cost.

The following is how Democracy International DI downplayed the recent events in Djibouti

Citation

Washington Post (Canadian Press/ Associated Press), February 18, 2011.
…No foreign journalists work in Djibouti, and few international organizations have a presence there. One international group in the country is Democracy International, which is working on a U.S.-funded project to monitor the April vote.
The head of the group’s observation mission, Chris Hennemeyer, said Djibouti is slowly and cautiously opening its political space but that it lacks alternative media outlets, civil society groups and mature political parties.
Hennemeyer said anyone in Djibouti expecting the popular groundswells that Egypt and Tunisia saw will be disappointed. He said a turnout in the low thousands at Friday’s rally would be “moderately significant” by Djiboutian standards.
Read more after the break.
“I think the government has a firm grasp on the levers of state and I don’t think that you will see a popular insurrection in Djibouti,” Hennemeyer said. “But I do think that people in government will pay close attention if the opposition is able to bring out large numbers of people.”
He said Djibouti deserved credit for allowing the protests to take place.
Djibouti’s first political rally broke out after the Muslim country’s Friday prayers on Jan. 28. Democracy International estimated that 2,000 to 3,000 people attended…
Hennemeyer said there are high-ranking government officials open to change.
“The government itself is not monolithic in Djibouti and a variety of opinions exist on whether political evolution is happening fast enough, and I think there are people who would like to see it accelerate,” he said.

Perhaps it’s a sign that the US is leaning fast not fumble again after Tunisia and Egypt, It’s also became quite clear there is nothing to defend or legitimise after the opposition has boycotted the upcoming election, and the US government is forced to abandon Piggy earlier rather later.

The following link(click here) is why the Djibouti suspends US election mission

http://www.ft.com/cm...l#axzz1GQJgTWGS

Ce message a été modifié par labo22 - 13 mars 2011 - 02:53 .

[Fluid]

The US knows exactly what they are referring to in terms of the reason of initializing Election Mission. Because, when they invest in a country for any reason, they also instigate on the situation of the concerned country in order to secure the interest and investmentb. Theiriggest concern is having their men and women stuck in a battle similar to neighboring countries and they cannot leave without being labelled negatively by the media for intervening a chaotic event. In the same time, they are aware that if a fair election was to take place that IOG has no position to win unless the american also take part of stealing the votes for him.


Let's hope Djiboutian will stand up on its own without depending on any leaders for the mean time.

[labo22]

Djibouti Bans a U.S-Backed Democracy-Advocacy Group One-Month Before Vote

We don’t know who to believe, the dispute between Djibouti government and US agency that supposedly advocating for Democracy, Democracy International DI has been going along with government propaganda set for the sham election until recently.

On one hand ,there is nothing left to observe, it’s an embarrassment for the US government to hang-on Piggy’s dirty games until the last few weeks of the election, if the US government is serious for promoting democracy, it should have pressuring Piggy last year when Piggy grossly violated Djiboutian Social Contract.

But on the other hand, the only candidate Mr Warsama (Rambo2) is widely believed to have presented his candidacy to shed a light of legitimacy over the April 8 elections, as the united opposition had also boycotted the 2005 and 2011 elections following a failure to reform the electoral code and to assure free and fair polls.

The following statements is the Democracy International DI spokesman flip-flops.

Citation

“Unfortunately my earlier optimism proved to be unfounded,” Hennemeyer said. “The Djiboutian government has confirmed its order that DI cease all activities and we are complying with their directive.”

DI claims that the Djibouti’s government ordered to leave the country, but the DI claims cannot be substantiated because, Government spokesman Moussa Mohamed Omar said he didn’t have any information on the issue when contacted by phone in Djibouti City today. Calls to Interior Minister Yacin Elmi Bouh, Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Yousef and Communications Minister Ali Abdi Farah weren’t answered.

The following supposed request and allegations from Djiboutian government cannot also be substantiated, as US government is neither acknowledging nor denying of any such official request and allegations was made

Citation

Djibouti’s foreign ministry sent a diplomatic note to the US Embassy dated March 2 requesting the end of the partnership with DI, alleging it had participated in and supported a violent February 18 opposition rally in which at least one person was killed, accusations the group denies

http://www.bloomberg...efore-vote.html

Ce message a été modifié par labo22 - 16 mars 2011 - 04:48 .

[labo22]

The US embassy in Djibouti and Djiboutian government are not saying much about the marriage made in-haven in which artificially turn sour, US government is trying to distant itself from Piggy right after the revolution that swept many north African countries, perhaps it was a deliberate misbehaviour of DI international that agitated Piggy and forced him to expel DI out the country.

Mr Hennemeyer of Democracy International DI is retracting his earlier upbeat about Piggy’s automatic re-election, his useless comments would have been appreciated had he said the following statement last year, when his mission had fundamentally changed, he and his agency DI decided stayed on,.....the disgrace exist of DI in final weeks of the election can be seen as face saving exist of the US government for this embarrassing scenario

Citation

Hennemeyer said he believes Djibouti _ which has been controlled by the same family since independence in 1977 _ is moving toward democracy, including having allowed past demonstrations and carrying opposition messages in state media.
"There were signs of progress in important areas," he said. "What will happen to those now I honestly don't know. I don't see Djibouti moving backward, but I'm not sure I see it moving forward in a democratic sense either."

The U.S. ambassador met with Djibouti’s prime minister over the Democracy International expulsion, but the group was kicked out anyway, Hennemeyer said. A U.S. Embassy spokesman said the embassy was not prepared to comment

Democracy International is an election observer body or an agency with a mission that is accountable to its financier ( US taxpayer) . Various articles were published about the DI agency with conflicting titles from suspended to band and from Quit to evicted.

Djibouti suspends US election mission
http://labo22.wordpr...ection-mission/

Election observers quit Djibouti
http://labo22.wordpr...-quit-djibouti/

Djibouti Bans a U.S-Backed Democracy-Advocacy Group One-Month Before Vote
http://labo22.wordpr...th-before-vote/

Djibouti evicts US vote group ahead of election
http://labo22.wordpr...ad-of-election/

Ce message a été modifié par labo22 - 18 mars 2011 - 05:30 .

[labo22]

Finally from ejected to kicked out, the terminology used of news media is becoming harsher

Djibouti ejects US team monitoring election

NAIROBI, Kenya - Djibouti's government has kicked out an American election-monitoring group less than a month before the nation's presidential election, a vote opposition politicians are boycotting because they say the president is repressing dissent.

Djibouti is a tiny East African nation that hosts the only U.S. military base in Africa. Situated on the Gulf of Aden between Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Yemen, the city-state is a major shipping hub in a volatile region.

The country is nominally democratic, but events leading up to the April 8 presidential election appear to show a hard-line approach by President Ismail Omar Guelleh.
Democracy International, a U.S. group that works on democracy and governance programs, was accused of assisting opposition politicians.

Copyright 2011 Arizona Daily Star. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[labo22]

One wonders whether Piggy is the actual ruler of Djibouti, well the regime has served an eviction notice on March 2 against the American NGO Democracy International DI and the Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mahamoud Ali Youssouf did not hesitate to call Democracy International of illegal organization supporting activities that the regime considers seditious.

According to Djibouti24 the government affiliated website, DI is still engage-in the election process in the country, Djibouti24 claims that the DI official who supposes to leave the country couple of weeks ago is still financing and holding regular meeting with only out-of-the- blue candidate Mohamed Warsama.

Why the regime can’t deport DI personnel if they opt to ignore the eviction notice? ....if there has been one to begin with, according this new surprising revelation, one can conclude that the regime has been bluffing of its objective or aptitude to expel DI out of the country.

From the get-go, it was obvious that the US government wouldn’t accept humiliation from their convenient dictator Piggy, we will be closely monitoring the upcoming US government reaction, and certainly a callous action against Piggy is expected.

[labo22]

Finally a press release in Washington DC Democracy International DI denounced the government’s unwarranted decision to prevent the organization from continuing its observation of Djibouti’s election process.

It’s too little too late, as far as the opposition and oppressed people of Djibouti is concerned, DI international downplayed the events on Feb 18 at time that the DI was in good term with regime, this is what DI spokes person Hennemeyer has to say “anyone in Djibouti expecting the popular groundswells that Egypt and Tunisia saw will be disappointed. He said a turnout in the low thousands at Friday’s rally would be “moderately significant” by Djiboutian standards.”

After DI has been expelled from Djibouti Mr Chris Hennemeyer flip-flab and said that he thought Friday's vote was uncompetitive and that Guelleh's re-election was never in doubt. The fact that the government released results within hours of the polls closing was proof of that, he said.

Ce message a été modifié par labo22 - 11 avril 2011 - 03:49 .

[labo22]

The following statement by U.S. Department of State, is a complete hypocrisy, despite knowing the dubious re-election of Piggy on April 2011, the US government rolled out the red carpet for him recently, while simultaneously his wife Odette was selling that gesture to the local audience as an approval of 4th term from the US government!

Citation

The United States condemns recent acts of violence in the capital of Djibouti and calls for the immediate release of opposition leaders who have been detained. We express our condolences to all those affected by the tragic deaths and injuries caused by these attacks.
We urge the Government of Djibouti to respect its citizens’ rights to freedom of exp​ression and peaceful assembly and association, and to exercise restraint. We call on the Government of Djibouti and all political stakeholders to engage in dialogue to prevent further violence. We also encourage the Government and opposition parties to resume negotiations to ensure peaceful and transparent presidential elections in 2016 ?!
We reaffirm our support for these negotiations and for Djibouti’s commitment to strengthening inclusive governance and development.

[labo22]

Even the expulsion of the U.S. –based Democracy International failed to provoke a strong reaction from Washington. This lends support to claims by groups operating in Djibouti that the Guelleh regime counts on the United States “for backup or to turn a blind eye” to such abuses (Brass 2008, 526).