Detained Djibouti soldier ‘maintained relations with Eritrea’-State Prosecutor

Fuad Yusuf Ali, the military man whose arrest in Djibouti has sparked rare public protests held relations with the country’s enemy-Eritrea and sought to steal a military aircraft, the State Prosecutor has said.

A statement from the Presidency dated June 11 dismissed Ali’s version of events and that of his wife noting he had committed acts tantamount to compromise of ‘national security’.

The government has also linked Ali to ‘opposition circles’ which have little regard for the proper functioning of democracy’.

The Presidency said the State Prosecutor had opened an inquiry into Ali on six grounds among them stealing a military aircraft with intent of destroying it, maintaining relations with Eritrea, publishing violent statements to incite public unrest and jeorpadising national defence by inciting the military to disobedience.

DISMISSED ALI’S VERSION

The State Prosecutor is also seeking to charge Ali with public defamation of the armed forces. “These are extremely serious acts that undermine national security and would be prosecuted to the fullest extend of the law by any State in the world,” the Presidency said.

According to a video circulated online, Ali’s wife Samira Jama Abdi said her husband had escaped to Djibouti and was arrested as he sought asylum. Ali also claimed in a separate video he had been mistreated and tortured in his cell at Gabode central prison.

However, the government has rubbished Ali’s story noting he had not been subjected to any mistreatment and instead was being held in a safe and well-conditioned room.

“The accused had a private cell located in a block containing other, perfectly identical cells, with access to a common courtyard where he is allowed, like all other prisoners to take a walk twice daily,” the statement added.

Protests broke out this week in the capital Djibouti, Ali Sabieh and Balbala which the government said ‘resulted in unacceptable disorder by violent elements.’