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President of Djibouti: Challenges are Great, Jeddah Summit Strengthens Arab Action

Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of Djibouti
Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of Djibouti
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President of Djibouti: Challenges are Great, Jeddah Summit Strengthens Arab Action

Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of Djibouti
Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of Djibouti

While all eyes will turn to Jeddah on Friday, when the Arab Summit will convene amid complex geopolitical conditions and multiple Arab crises, topped by the armed conflict in Sudan, Ismail Omar Guelleh, President of Djibouti stressed that the Arab peoples were counting on the summit to come out with decisions that contain the crises and strengthen joint Arab action.

In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Guelleh said that the Arab Summit was being held in light of multiple and complex geopolitical changes and critical circumstances in some Arab countries.

“The most important thorny files in the Arab world will top the agenda of the summit, as well as the various geopolitical developments in the region,” he stated.

Emphasizing the centrality of Saudi Arabia in strengthening the Arab decision and unifying the ranks, the president of Djibouti noted that challenges in the Arab world were many and complex.

“Many of the brotherly countries are going through critical conditions, such as Sudan, which is witnessing a very deteriorating and dangerous situation, as well as Yemen”, he said, expressing “great optimism” for the Saudi efforts to solve the crisis, put an end to the suffering of the Yemenis, and restore security and stability in the country.

Guelleh also pointed to the continuous Israeli violations of Islamic and Christian sanctities in occupied Jerusalem, denouncing “the Israeli occupation police storming and desecrating the Gate of Mercy chapel, which is an integral part of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as raising the Israeli occupation flag on the roof and walls of the Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of Hebron.”

“This is a flagrant violation of international law, the Geneva Conventions, and the resolutions of international legitimacy, and a provocation to the feelings of the Islamic nation”, the president underlined.

He added: “We hope that the current Arab summit will come out with recommendations and decisions that would contribute to resolving the crisis and the critical conditions that the Arab world is going through.”

Asked about the means to address the Sudanese file, as Djibouti is member of IGAD, Guelleh said that his country was following with great concern the developments in Sudan.

The president stressed that the IGAD group has put forward a mediation initiative to resolve the crisis, and assigned the presidents of Djibouti, Kenya and South Sudan to go to Sudan. But he added that the movement of the three presidents towards Khartoum depended on a cease-fire and the commitment to the truce.

“We are ready to start effective mediation, and we hope that the IGAD initiative will contribute to finding an urgent solution to the worsening crisis since mid-April. We also salute the current mediation by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States in the Jeddah Dialogue to reach a cease-fire,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Commenting on Syria’s return to the Arab League, the president of Djibouti expressed his country’s commitment to a political solution in Syria that meets the aspirations of the people and ends their sufferings.

“Based on this, we welcome the progress towards ending the Syrian crisis, which lifts the political isolation of brotherly Syria, ends the suffering of its dear people, and fulfills their aspirations for security, stability, development and prosperity,” he stated.

Commenting on global geopolitical changes and the formation of new blocs, Guelleh said that the Arab world cannot be isolated from these developments.

“It is normal for any Arab country to cooperate with any bloc... if it sees its interest, in a manner that does not contradict joint Arab action and the constants of the international community”, he stated.

Guelleh added that his country welcomed any US-Chinese competition in Africa that falls in the interest of development.

Touching on the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing, the president of Djibouti warned that the negative effects of the war were not limited to a specific geographical area, but cast a shadow over the entire world and impeded economic growth.

He said in this regard: “We renew our support for international efforts aimed at ending the crisis politically, and we also hope that the parties to the conflict will accept negotiation.”

As for the recent agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran on the revival of bilateral ties, Guelleh expressed his belief that it would reflect positively on the development of the two countries, as well as the region as a whole.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Any rapprochement and cooperation between two countries of the weight and size of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iran will undoubtedly contribute to laying the foundations for stability and development in the entire region, and will enhance joint Islamic action.”

Guelleh stressed that Saudi Arabia has always supported Djibouti’s development on various levels, pointing to the presence of several joint committees that seek to promote economic, security and military cooperation between the two countries.

“Based on the tremendous development that we have achieved during the past two decades in the field of ports in terms of quantity and quality, we look forward to strengthening cooperation between the two brotherly countries in the field of maritime transport, logistics services and ports”, he remarked.

He added that work was underway to launch joint projects in the field of sea and air transport, and to establish a free zone and warehouses dedicated for Saudi exports and products within the international free trade zone in Djibouti.

 

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Interviews

Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
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Goldrich to Asharq Al-Awsat: No US Withdrawal from Syria

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich during the interview with Asharq Al-Awsat

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Ethan Goldrich has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the US does not plan to withdraw its forces from Syria.

The US is committed to “the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with,” he said.

Here is the full text of the interview.

Question: Mr. Goldrich, thank you so much for taking the time to sit with us today. I know you are leaving your post soon. How do you assess the accomplishments and challenges remaining?

Answer: Thank you very much for the chance to talk with you today. I've been in this position for three years, and so at the end of three years, I can see that there's a lot that we accomplished and a lot that we have left to do. But at the beginning of a time I was here, we had just completed a review of our Syria policy, and we saw that we needed to focus on reducing suffering for the people in Syria. We needed to reduce violence. We needed to hold the regime accountable for things that are done and most importantly, from the US perspective, we needed to keep ISIS from reemerging as a threat to our country and to other countries. At the same time, we also realized that there wouldn't be a solution to the crisis until there was a political process under resolution 2254, so in each of these areas, we've seen both progress and challenges, but of course, on ISIS, we have prevented the reemergence of the threat from northeast Syria, and we've helped deal with people that needed to be repatriated out of the prisons, and we dealt with displaced people in al-Hol to reduce the numbers there. We helped provide for stabilization in those parts of Syria.

Question: I want to talk a little bit about the ISIS situation now that the US troops are still there, do you envision a timeline where they will be withdrawn? Because there were some reports in the press that there is a plan from the Biden administration to withdraw.

Answer: Yeah. So right now, our focus is on the mission that we have there to keep ISIS from reemerging. So I know there have been reports, but I want to make clear that we remain committed to the role that we play in that part of Syria, to the partnership that we have with the local forces that we work with, and to the need to prevent that threat from reemerging.

Question: So you can assure people who are saying that you might withdraw, that you are remaining for the time being?

Answer: Yes, and that we remain committed to this mission which needs to continue to be pursued.

Question: You also mentioned the importance of humanitarian aid. The US has been leading on this. Are you satisfied with where you are today on the humanitarian front in Syria?

Answer: We remain committed to the role that we play to provide for humanitarian assistance in Syria. Of the money that was pledged in Brussels, we pledged $593 million just this past spring, and we overall, since the beginning of the conflict, have provided $18 billion both to help the Syrians who are inside of Syria and to help the refugees who are in surrounding countries. And so we remain committed to providing that assistance, and we remain keenly aware that 90% of Syrians are living in poverty right now, and that there's been suffering there. We're doing everything we can to reduce the suffering, but I think where we would really like to be is where there's a larger solution to the whole crisis, so Syrian people someday will be able to provide again for themselves and not need this assistance.

Question: And that's a perfect key to my next question. Solution in Syria. you are aware that the countries in the region are opening up to Assad again, and you also have the EU signaling overture to the Syrian regime and Assad. How do you deal with that?

Answer: For the United States, our policy continues to be that we will not normalize with the regime in Syria until there's been authentic and enduring progress on the goals of resolution 2254, until the human rights of the Syrian people are respected and until they have the civil and human rights that they deserve. We know other countries have engaged with the regime. When those engagements happen, we don't support them, but we remind the countries that are engaged that they should be using their engagements to push forward on the shared international goals under 2254, and that whatever it is that they're doing should be for the sake of improving the situation of the Syrian people.

Question: Let's say that all of the countries decided to talk to Assad, aren’t you worried that the US will be alienated in the process?

Answer: The US will remain true to our own principles and our own policies and our own laws, and the path for the regime in Syria to change its relationship with us is very clear, if they change the behaviors that led to the laws that we have and to the policies that we have, if those behaviors change and the circumstances inside of Syria change, then it's possible to have a different kind of relationship, but that's where it has to start.

Question: My last question to you before you leave, if you have to pick one thing that you need to do in Syria today, what is it that you would like to see happening today?

Answer: So there are a number of things, I think that will always be left and that there are things that we will try to do, to try to make them happen. We want to hold people accountable in Syria for things that have happened. So even today, we observed something called the International Day for victims of enforced disappearances, there are people that are missing, and we're trying to draw attention to the need to account for the missing people. So our step today was to sanction a number of officials who were responsible for enforced disappearances, but we also created something called the independent institution for missing persons, and that helps the families, in the non-political way, get information on what's happened. So I'd like to see some peace for the families of the missing people. I'd like to see the beginning of a political process, there hasn't been a meeting of the constitutional committee in two years, and I think that's because the regime has not been cooperating in political process steps. So we need to change that situation. And I would, of course, like it's important to see the continuation of the things that we were talking about, so keeping ISIS from reemerging and maintaining assistance as necessary in the humanitarian sphere. So all these things, some of them are ongoing, and some of them remain to be achieved. But the Syrian people deserve all aspects of our policy to be fulfilled and for them to be able to return to a normal life.