Ambassador Kjemprud held discussions with Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf and other officials of the Djiboutian government early this week, while also meeting Executive Secretary of IGAD Mahboud Maalim, the new Prime Minister of Somalia Omar Abdourachid Ali Sharmarke as well as a number of representatives of the diplomatic community in Djibouti. The discussions centred on the ongoing Djibouti-process concerning Somalia, the Djiboutian-Eritrean conflict as well as other subregional issues. 2nd Secretary Sophie Cleve also attended the meetings. Read more.
Djibouti has for the last 7 months been the venue for intensive talks to resolve the conflict in neigbouring Somalia. In a process led by the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ould Abdallah, a new president was named two weeks ago and a new prime minister was named last week. A Cabinet will be named shortly and then the new Government will return to Mogadishu to try to resolve outstanding differences at the ground and get the Government operational. Both Djibouti as well as the Intergovernmental Autority of Development (IGAD) has strongly supported this process and the Embassy held constructive discussions on the way forward. Norway has supported the Djibouti proceess
In the discussion with Djiboutian Foreign Minister Youssouf the unresolved border conflict with Eritrea, the economic development policies of the Djiboutian government as well as bilateral Djiboutian- Norwegian issues were also discussed, while energy issues was discussed with the Minister of Energy Moussa Bouh Odowa. The revitalisation of IGAD was thorughly discussed with the IGAD Executive Secretary.
The newly elected Prime Minister of Somalia, Sharmarke, thanked Norway for supporting the Djibouti process and outlined the way forward for the new government, its potential and its challenges. The Embassy underlined the willingness to further engage in supporting the peace process. The Embassy also met with the ambassadors of Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Saudi Arabia, USA and Yemen.