Thousands protest France’s investigation into Djibouti officials

DJIBOUTI (AFP) — Tens of thousands of protestors marched through Djibouti Saturday to slam French moves to have senior local officials arrested for allegedly blocking a probe into the 1995 death of a French judge.

Several government ministers, deputies and religious leaders joined the rally, during which demonstrators shouted slogans denouncing France’s "racist justice system" and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "Don’t touch my president," they screamed. "Shame on you Sarkozy." Organisers estimated that between 15,000 and 20,000 people took part in the demonstration, which was to protest against recent developments in the investigation into the death of judge Bernard Borrel. But police put the figure at around 35,000.

Anti-French sentiment ran high Saturday in the tiny former French colony in east Africa which is home to France’s main military base on the continent. The marchers paraded in front of the French embassy but stayed clear of the base. A Frenchwoman in the capital said: "I was insulted … and I really felt the hatred. We French expatriates here feel we are being scapegoats." French investigators have called for Djibouti’s chief prosecutor Djama Souleiman and the head of the country’s secret service, Hassan Said, to appear in a French court over the affair.

France issued international arrest warrants for them on September 27, 2006, over allegations that they put pressure on and threatened two Djiboutian witnesses in the case. Souleiman has already made it clear that there is no question of his appearing before the French courts, saying the case was "the biggest judicial scandal ever in the French Republic." Both he and Said are close to President Ismael Omar Guelleh. Borrel’s half-burned body was found at the foot of a ravine 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the town of Djibouti in October 1995.

His widow Elisabeth Borrel believes her husband was murdered by Djibouti agents and that France helped Djibouti authorities cover up the crime, which has been officially dismissed as suicide here. She maintains that France cooperated with President Guelleh’s efforts to bury the affair because of fears of losing its military base in the tiny east African state.

Relations between France and Djibouti are becoming increasingly strained over the affair, especially since Sarkozy, who came to office in June, promised to help Elisabeth Borrel find the truth. In July, a former government minister in Djibouti, Moumin Bahdon Farah, denied claims by a former French military intelligence officer that he had ordered Borrel to investigate Guelleh, who at the time was not yet president.

The same month, French judges investigating the Borrel death searched the homes of Michel de Bonnecorse, a former presidential adviser on Africa under Sarkozy’s predecessor, Jacques Chirac.

                                                      Borel withis children in Djibouti