by Mekki Elmograbi
Friday, May 15, 2015
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Djibouti on May 6, 2015, the first ever visit by a secretary of state to the Horn of Africa state.
Djibouti visit was the last station in “Kerry's May 2015 - East African tour” after Kenya and Somalia. It was the first ever visit for a U.S. Secretary of State to the Horn of Africa.
The “Associated Press” published an interesting article on Kerry’s visit “Kerry trip to Djibouti highlights importance of small nation now increasingly key to US policy”, the article commented on tiny Djibouti, which covers an area in the size of “New Jersey state” with less 1 million population, “A sleepy coastal nation in the Horn of Africa, Djibouti was the last French colony to achieve independence. Today, nearly four decades later, the mainly Sunni nation has become a critical part of U.S. foreign policy”
Kerry headed from the airport to Salman Mosque, Djibouti, where he addressed the Islamic world through a short meeting with Djiboutian youth and religious leaders.
It is a wonderful initiative organized by the Djiboutian government; for this reason, I wrote “this is Djibouti that I know”, the people are loyal to their country, loyal to their religion and their culture but in the same time very open to discuss and to convey peaceful messages to the entire world not just U.S. Really, Djibouti is an advanced model of tolerance and sense of balance.
Kerry discussed with President Ismail Omar Guelleh cooperation on security and other matters.
Djibouti because of the wise and balanced policies of the President Ismail Guelleh became the safe heavens in the horn of Africa.
Djibouti small in its size but big in its influence and this made me write a series of article before: “Djibouti the Pomegranate of the Scale in East Africa”. It is just like the small metal ball in the Steelyard scale that makes the poise.
U.S. is not one the biggest partners of investment and development but the ties between Djibouti and Washington based on cooperation, peace and security, in May of last year, President Guelleh paid a visit to the U.S. and met President Barack Obama and discussed several issues related to peace and security in the region.
Djibouti is stable and it has been a political laboratory for supplying other countries with stability remedies. Despite resistance to implementation here and there, the country has remained neutral against polarization and hijacking, it remained in safe hands of a smart leadership, whose wise foreign policies yielded it a state of security and stability to render it a rising regional economic power.
It is worth mentioning and repeating again that Djibouti’s neighborhood has never been stable; this is what we will explain in another article.
Mekki Elmograbi
Email: mekkicentre.com