Djibouti links paedophile probe, French judge death

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Djibouti links paedophile probe, French judge death
18 Oct 2007 08:18:08 GMT
Source: Reuters
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DJIBOUTI, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Djibouti has uncovered a paedophile ring involving former French officials that may be linked to the death of a French judge in 1995, the country's public prosecutor said.

Djama Souleiman Ali told reporters late on Wednesday that judge Bernard Borrel, whose charred body was found 12 years ago in the Red Sea state, was investigating a paedophile network at the time of his death.

"We found the new face to the Borrel case," said Ali, who is himself wanted by French authorities in connection with Borrel's death.

"We discovered a (paedophile) network implicating many French in different categories such as church members, military and diplomats. We gathered the proof and are ready to take it to court."

Ali said Djiboutian authorities had only recently become aware of a possible connection between Borrel's death and a paedophile ring. He did not say when the case would come to court.

When Borrel's body was found, Djiboutian authorities initially said the judge, who was working as a consultant in the justice ministry, had committed suicide. But his widow accused high-ranking officials of involvement in his death.

Last October, a French judge ordered arrest warrants to be issues for public prosecutor Ali and Hassan Said Khaireh, head of the Djiboutian secret services.

A French magistrate has also tried to question Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh, who was chief of staff of the then president, Hassan Gouled Aptidon. But as serving head of state, he cannot be forced to testify under French law.

Ali dismissed allegations that Djiboutian authorities were involved in the judge's death.

"There are old colonialists who can't accept that an ex-colony can be free from them. It also smacks of racism when you see the way that they behave towards us," he said.

The Borrel case is sensitive for France, partly because Djibouti is home to its largest military base in Africa.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L18521355.htm

Also read:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071020/wl_africa_afp/djiboutifranceinquirydemo_071020184144
 
June 14, 2007
Chirac accused of ‘treason’ over Djibouti judge death

PARIS, June 13, 2007 (AFP) - Former French president Jacques Chirac was accused of "treason" Wednesday for allegedly helping the government of Djibouti cover up the truth behind the 1995 death of a French judge. Elisabeth Borrel, who believes her husband Bernard Borrel was murdered by Djibouti agents, said that France cooperated with President Ismael Omar Guelleh’s efforts to bury the affair because of fears of losing its military base in the tiny east African state.


Her accusation came a day after documents were made public which appeared to show that in 2005 Chirac advised Guelleh to take France before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague over the French criminal investigation into Borrel’s death.

Flanked by her lawyers, Elisabeth Borrel appealed to Chirac’s successor Nicolas Sarkozy to "make a commitment to ensure the respect of those principles which alone will see the murderers of my husband identified and brought to justice." "It was Chirac himself who suggested to Djibouti’s president to take France before the ICJ," said her lawyer Olivier Morice.

"Juridically what happened comes under the heading of treason. Since the start of the affair diplomatic considerations have taken precedence over justice," said Laurent de Caunes, who is also on her legal team. Borrel’s half-burned body was found at the foot of a ravine 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the town of Djibouti in October 1995. He had been working on secondment to the Djibouti justice ministry.

A local enquiry concluded that he had committed suicide, but the next year French justice officials disputed the findings and opened a murder investigation. Elisabeth Borrel and other campaigners believe her husband was killed on orders from senior figures in the Djibouti government because he was in possession of compromising information, possibly concerning arms trafficking or terrorist attacks on French interests in Djibouti.

The government of Djibouti has tried for several years to gain access to the dossier being compiled by French investigating magistrates, but their demands have been repeatedly turned down by French justice officials. In March this year judges in France opened a separate investigation into allegations of French political pressure in the Borrel case.

They then raided the ministries of justice and foreign affairs in Paris and seized a number of documents. An attempt to search the Elysee palace shortly before Chirac left office in May was thwarted because of his presidential immunity.

Leaked to the press on Tuesday, the seized documents — including a diplomatic note from the French ambassador in Djibouti — appear to suggest that it was France’s idea for Djibouti to go before the ICJ in order to demand access to the French criminal investigation.

"The Djibouti authorites are thinking over our idea of resorting to the ICJ," the ambassador’s note from mid-2005 reads, according to a copy obtained by AFP. Investigators believe Chirac may have made the suggestion to Guelleh at a meeting in May 2005. In January 2006, Djibouti did indeed file suit at the ICJ, claiming that France had broken a bilateral agreement on judicial assistance.

France, the former colonial pwoer, has 2,700 troops in Djibouti, whose government has also allowed 1,500 US troops to be based in the country for the fight against terrorism. Chirac’s presidntial immunity expires on Saturday, one month after he left office. Newspaper reports say he is likely to be questioned at some point over allegations of illegal party financing, as well as over the so-called Clearstream affair — a dirty tricks campaign of which Sarkozy believes he was a victim.

Copyright AFP

http://harowo.com/2007/06/14/chirac-accused-of-treason-over-djibouti-judge-death/
 
Oh Jacques... you and Silvio look more alike each passing day :rolleyes:
 
Who else but Merkinball :rolleyes: ?

Guys, did you read the date on that last piece of news ?
You know what happened after Mr Chirac immunity expired ? Nothing much.
This is a total non-issue. The government of Djibouti has gotten into its head that it's a global world power and can make unreasonable claims and demands. Here, we're just raising an eyebrow and minding our own business.
Do not get fooled by the AFP heading, this is just the Djiboutian version of the story (and their accusations).

A judge working in Djibouti as a cooperant was found dead 12 years ago, near the desert, apparently burned to death AND after having jumped off a cliff. The Djiboutian authorities concluded it was a "suicide". Being a little bit disappointed by the conclusions, the French authorities decided to launch another investigation. And now because we have a new president that wants some answers, the Djiboutians are hiding behind smoke screens and launching accusations as a counterattack.
I'm not saying that we're absolutely clean in that business because :
1/ Nobody knows for sure;
2/ This is Africa we're talking about, things tend to be... murkier there.

Oh and btw, that "paedophile ring", good chances are it's a prostitution ring. I guess it's easy to twist the news when you're president of your own little country in the horn of Africa. IMO, what the prez wants is just to raise the rent on the airbase we have there and he's applying pressure where he thinks it will hurt (world opinion).
Anyway, hard to tell what you want with these Merkinball, because you just provide links without comments. Do you think this is good, bad ? What's your take on this, should we discuss it ?
Do we have all the pieces of the puzzle to make an informed and unbiased discussion ? I think not.
 
I've always found the case interesting, and long before Chirac and company became implicated into it. I don't see what you're complaining about. If the judge was indeed murdered, then it was done by Guelleh's thugs. I don't even know what you're complaining about. It's a French judge, who I would say was indeed murdered by Djiboutian government officials/muscle. It's been Djiboutian government officials trying to cover the mess up.

I tend to think that the judge, was indeed murdered. Think about it. How does a human being end up being burned, and in the bottom of a cliff? Answer, he was murdered, burned, and dumped in a cliff. What did he do, set himself on fire on the way down?

I'm definitely interested to know what happened here.

What makes you think it's a prostitution ring and not a pedofile ring anyway? You need look no farther than any prostitution den in Djibouti to find underage girls that will do anything to a man for twelve bucks.
 
Ok Merk,
Same here. I definitely would like to know what really happened, but my guess is : we'll never really know for sure.
I was complaining because you just put the articles without any comment and I was wondering what you really wanted to point out (seeing as the articles did put our former prez in a bad light and all...).

As for the prostitution ring. Well honestly, you're right, that's all it is : a prostitution ring. Problem is that some of the girls are just 16 (maybe 15, who knows ?). And that's it. They roam the bars around Menelik plaza and wait until all guys (most of them in groups of friends, most of them from the various bases) are wasted to make a move. And do you really think the wasted guys will ask for ID (which hardly exists anyway) ?
So, I wouldn't say it's a paedophile ring. We're not talking pre-teens abused by middle-aged men here. It's "only" prostitutes aged 15-18, making a living out of it. Is it bad ? yes. Is it as bad as the article hints ? Not by a long shot.

If you find anything else on the case, let us know. But honestly I doubt anything will come out of it.
 
You need look no farther than any prostitution den in Djibouti to find underage girls that will do anything to a man for twelve bucks.

have you been there?

;)
 
Yes (and so did Merkinball).
And IIRC, 12 bucks is expensive. More like 10$ or 5€...
Believe it or not, I haven't tried, but it's just like common knowledge there. And there are so many of them in the night bars... It's really annoying.
 
have you visited the country? or are you extrapolating from a better known hell-hole like the Congo?
 
I dunno, there are prostitution dens that extend outside of the Menelik square area where there are young girls, and that are extremely shady. I had friends that were new to Djibouti, who were unsuspectingly led into one house where one kid ended up getting a BJ from a 15 year old, and she wasn't the youngest one there from what I was told.

Most of the girls in Menelik square, the girls that sell the gum and crap, they don't do that (prostitute themselves). They make all kinds of money just peddling crap, and they're ethnic Somali's . They also make out like bandits because when service members don't want care packages, they just bring all the crap out to the girls.

One big thing that occurs, that is KNOWN to occur in Djibouti, is human trafficking. And it's widely known that underage girls from Ethiopia are brought into the country. This is why the US side has a zero tolerance policy concerning prostitution there. I haven't heard any specific stories concerning Djiboutian officials or French officials/servicemen, but I do know in many of the poorer neighborhoods, they will peddle very young girls to the Afar men as servants.

Let's also not forget that pedophile ring could mean lots of things. It might not explicitly indicate that these individuals were participating, taking pictures, having sex with young girls in Djibouti. They may have just been conducting an internet pedophile ring completely unrelated to girls in Djibouti all together.
 
And IIRC, 12 bucks is expensive. More like 10$ or 5€...
Believe it or not, I haven't tried, but it's just like common knowledge there. And there are so many of them in the night bars... It's really annoying. - Izipo

Two thousand Djiboutian Francs is about the going rate. That roughly translates into twelve bucks. And yes, they are annoying, but some of them are just outrageously attractive. The detracting part of the whole endeavour, is of course, the AIDS.

I do all I can to avoid those places. Horrible loud music, the prostitutes are annoying, and it's six bucks to drink anything (even a coke.)
 
<snip> And yes, they are annoying, but some of them are just outrageously attractive.

Some are insanely beautiful (and young, they could be 20, they could be 16).

The detracting part of the whole endeavour, is of course, the AIDS.

And this is why I never, ever, even thought about trying anything.

I do all I can to avoid those places. Horrible loud music, the prostitutes are annoying, and it's six bucks to drink anything (even a coke.)

Hear, hear,
And mostly it's the French servicemen hangout (and it explains the crap and prostitution).

I have fond memories of some of the little restaurants in the back alleys. And the desert. And the diving. But that's about it.
But I've seen worse (Chad and Darfour...). And i fear there is even worse (Sierra Leone ?).
 
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