WASHINGTON, April 24, 2017 —
The meeting between Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Djiboutian President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh yesterday went to the heart of the U.S. relationship with the African nation, the secretary said, describing it as strong and strengthening.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis meets with troops stationed at Camp Lemmonier, Djibouti, April 23, 2017. DoD photo by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Brigitte N. Brantley
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis meets with troops stationed at Camp Lemmonier, Djibouti, April 23, 2017. DoD photo by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Brigitte N. Brantley
“I came here to meet with President Guelleh and to spend time with [Marine Corps Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser], our theater commander for all of Africa, here at our only enduring location in Africa,” the secretary said at a news conference with Waldhauser in Djibouti.
Mattis expressed his gratitude to Guelleh in the 40th year of the independence of the modern state of Djibouti “for everything that they have done,” he said. “And you'll remember, those who go back to those hectic days after 9/11, this was a country that stepped forward at the end of 2001, early 2002, and said, ‘We're with you,’ and they've been with us every day, and every month and every year since.”
The U.S.-Djiboutian strong partnership shows very clearly there, Mattis said, where the nation has hosted American troops for more than a dozen years.
“I emphasized with the president that we stand by Djibouti and its commitment,” the secretary said. “It has made its own commitment to fighting terrorists. It's got two battalions with the [African Union Mission in Somalia] force. That's the Africa force stabilizing Somalia by fighting against the al-Shabaab terrorists, and that international mission by African troops there, supported by the United States, is actually commanded by a Djiboutian general officer.”
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