Djiboutian political parties trade blame for negotiations gridlock. By Harbi Abdillahi Omar in Djibouti October 23, 2013 After months of stalled talks between Djiboutis ruling coalition Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP) and the Union for National Salvation (USN) opposition party, both sides continue to blame each other for the breakdown in dialogue. Djiboutian opposition party supporters march Friday (October 18th) in Sheikh Musa neighbourhood in Balbala to protest the detention of opposition members. [Harbi Abdillahi Omar/Sabahi] Djiboutian opposition party supporters march Friday (October 18th) in Sheikh Musa neighbourhood in Balbala to protest the detention of opposition members. [Harbi Abdillahi Omar/Sabahi] Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh addresses a political rally in Djibouti in the run-up to the April 2011 presidential elections. [Simon Maina/AFP] Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh addresses a political rally in Djibouti in the run-up to the April 2011 presidential elections. [Simon Maina/AFP] Related Articles Djiboutian opposition parties to contest parliamentary elections Djiboutian opposition accuses government of censorship Djiboutis ruling coalition claims election victory, opposition cries foul Djiboutian opposition spokesman released from prison There is a serious problem of leadership within the opposition that blocks dialogue with the government, Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh said October 15th during a garden party at the presidential palace to celebrate Eid al-Adha. They need to overcome their divisions and return to the negotiating table for the higher interest of the nation. Guelleh blamed the opposition for stalling the bilateral talks, after both the USN and UMP had agreed to open political dialogue on August 14th. The talks were aimed at ending political strife and a government crackdown on opposition members that followed the UMPs victory in Djiboutis parliamentary elections in February, which the USN disputed. We are still committed and open to dialogue and national reconciliation, Guelleh said. It is unfortunate that we have in front of us a motley opposition with an incoherent policy agenda. It prefers to place its individual and partisan interests above the supreme interests of the nation. Authorities must release prisoners The USN, however, strongly disagrees with the presidents view of the situation and puts the blame on the ruling bloc for impeding such dialogue through the repeated jailing of its members. For the resumption of negotiations, the authorities must release prisoners as agreed, USN secretary general Abdourahman Mohamed Guelleh told Sabahi. He painted the presidents Eid al-Adha speech as meaningless. The political agenda of the USN is very coherent: respect the ballot box, release political prisoners, and establish democracy and the rule of law in Djibouti, he said. The opposition leader pointed to the governments repeated arrests of USN spokesman Daher Ahmed Farah since he returned to Djibouti in January, after nine years in exile in Belgium, as an example of the ruling partys heavy-handed actions. [Farah] has dealt with the police and the gendarmerie more than 50 times, Guelleh said. He has been in Gabode prison 13 times in nine months, and during all these arrests, the files with charges [against him] were almost empty. In order to appease the conflicting political situation and as a gesture of goodwill on the part of the regime, I ask and hope that the president of the republic will exercise his constitutional powers to release all political prisoners in order for the dialogue to resume, he said. In an effort to move negotiations forward, Guelleh said the USN recently sent a letter to the African Union pleading for the bloc to mediate between the two parties. But UMP lawmaker Hussein Ali said the release of political prisoners was out of the presidents hands at this point. … [I]t is a matter of the judiciary, and the president will intervene only as a last resort, he said. This dialogue of the deaf … is seriously starting to annoy Djiboutians, he said, adding that citizens are expecting politicians to be responsible and take every opportunity to engage one another in dialogue. Unfortunately, opposition leaders seem more than ever impervious to this expectation, he said. The current political situation is crippling the country and negatively impacting Djiboutis economy, said Omar Aden, a professor of socioeconomics at Djibouti University. [We should] not listen to the extremists on either side who do not want dialogue and are leading the country straight into the wall, Aden told Sabahi. Today, the nation is falling in economic development, and [because of] this stalemate between the government and the opposition we are not moving [forward].
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 06:52:55 +0000