Courcy’s Intelligence Brief
Risk pointers
*** China expands Djibouti security cooperation. As the influence of French and US forces wanes in Djibouti, China is looking to fill the void. Historically, France and the US have been the major players in terms of Djibouti’s military cooperation, but in the last few years that has been changing. In the past, thousands of French and American troops have been stationed in the tiny African country, whose population was only estimated at about 790,000 in 2013. Cooperation has chiefly centred round counter-terrorist and anti-piracy operations. In 2001, after the Djiboutian civil war, the government leased the former French military base Camp Lemonnier to the United States Central Command for operations related to Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA). In 2009, Central Command transitioned responsibilities in Africa to AFRICOM. France’s 13th Demi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion is still based in Djibouti, but does not have a presence in the capital, Djibouti City.
Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh met with Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan who was on an official visit to Djibouti, on 25 February. According to the two officials, Djibouti and China enjoy a close relationship, and their defence departments have generated “abundant fruits in…cooperation in the fields of personnel training, equipment and materials, and naval escorting,” according to Guelleh. “China is ready to support Djibouti to reinforce its military capacities and guarantee its security,” said Chang.
In the past, Chang’s Djiboutian counterpart, Hassan Darar Houffaneh, has appealed “for more military cooperation between his country and China to reinforce the operational capacity of the Djibouti Armed Forces,” in view of Djibouti’s intent to deploy an additional 1,000 soldiers in Somalia, where it already has a contingent of 1,000 troops participating in the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) to eradicate Al-Shabaab terrorists. “Djibouti is ready to allow Chinese military ships to access its ports,” stated Houffaneh.