Radio Erena: 21 February 2015
President Ismail Omar Gele of Djibouti says the Qatari mediated peace talks between Eritrea and Djibouti has born no fruit in the last five years.
President Gele, in an interview he gave to a French weekly news magazine of Jeune Afrique, has also underlined that peace and mending the relationship with Eritrea is impossible as far as President Isaias Afwerki is in power.
The Djiboutian president notes his Eritrean counterpart’s incapability to work out on restoring his country’s relations with its neighboring Ethiopia. He went on to praise his county’s relationship with Ethiopia which the Eritrean president is hostile toward.
President Gele alleged that Eritrea is being ruled by nine generals under president Isaias’ dictatorship and that it is very hard to work out any deal under such conditions.
Answering to questions from the magazine regarding this year’s upcoming election in his country, President Gele stressed out a political movement led by a politician named Farah that demands for a democratic change in Djibouti has been charged with treason and is, therefore, disqualified because of its relations with President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea.
The Djiboutian leader attributes the main cause of the failure of the peace talks to president Isaias’ rejection to releasing Djibouti’s prisoners of war (POW).
Djibouti claims to have captured 19 Eritreans and accuses Eritrea of capturing 17 of its nationals in the war that took place in June of 2008 although Eritrea hasn’t released any statement about this.
President Isaias, however, is reported to have been describing the progress on the peace talks as positive.
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