Asmara(ANN) The President of the Republic of Djibouti, Ismaël
Omar Guelleh held a small meeting on Saturday with three army leaders to prepare for an outbreak of military hostilities against Eritrea, a source tells EP.
The source tells EP that the purpose of the hostility is to put an end and divert the attention of ‘suffering’ Djiboutians who are recently showing a high degree of daily demonstration against the regime.
Thousands of people participated in rallies in Djibouti-ville and Ali Sabieh, in the south of the country, demanding the release of Lieutenant Fouad Youssouf Ali, a pilot of the Djiboutian air force imprisoned after fleeing the country to Ethiopia.
The Djiboutian League for Human Rights (LDDH) said, “unreservedly condemns and condemns the repeated violence by the security forces” against civilians in the country.
Opponents and civil society activists reported that many civilians wounded, including several in serious condition as well as dozens imprisoned following the protests.
Pilot Fouad Youssouf Ali is accused by the government of “trying to fly a military plane to reach Eritrea”, then of fleeing to Ethiopia after “missing his takeoff and damaging the aircraft”.
His lawyer, Zakaria Abdellahi said that is “ridiculous” accusations.
“It’s impossible, it doesn’t make sense because there are still rules to follow. The military aircraft is in a hangar. It takes the association of how many people to get this plane out of the hangar already: you need the mechanics, you need the assistants. There is a whole procedure, rules to respect. And to give the accusation a bit more colours, they related the case to enemy Eritrea,” said the lawyer.
Our source tells EP that the pilot fled to Ethiopia on March 27, 2020. He was arrested in Addis Ababa on April 8, 2020; and handed over to the Djiboutian authority on April 10, 2020.
“Since his transfer to Djibouti until April 26, 2020, Lieutenant Fouad Yousosuf Ali had been detained in the jails of the Djiboutian political police – SDS – to undergo all kinds of torture in order to force him to agree to the charges fabricated by the Guelleh regime,” added the source.
In 2007, grumbling Djiboutian army officers started their protests against the regime. A few months later, with the advice of the then Ethiopian government, TPLF, the tiny country took on the Eritrean army under the pretext of ‘border dispute’ at Ras Dumeira. The attacking Djiboutian force retreated after receiving heavy ‘beating’ for three days.
The “war” against Eritrea used as a justification and distraction by President Guelleh to get rid of the army officers and undo the threat to his administration.
