19/01/11 (B587) J’ai un rêve ! Lettre ouverte au Président des Etats-Unis, pour lui demander d’apporter son soutien à la restauration de la démocratie et des libertés à Djibouti (MOHAMED HOUSSEIN / En Anglais / Info lecteur)

DEAR PRESIDENT,

I have a dream.

I do firmly hope that this letter will land in your proper hands so that you can read my message to you. I am writing you this letter first on behalf of the African people who would like to live in a society of freedom and dignity like many people in this world. I am also writing you this letter on behalf of the African youth and young generations who are most starving for liberty, dignity and peace in their own countries.

I am finally writing you this letter on behalf of the Djiboutian people who are enduring more than thirty three years of dictatorship, oppression and lack of basic human rights in their mother land and who are desperately struggling to get rid of this undemocratic regime in the forthcoming election taking place on April 2011.

Dear president, deep from our minds and hearts, from all corners and walks of this great African continent, we were all thrilled to the bones when we heard the ground breaking speech you made in Ghana two years ago. We felt proud and happy to hear from your mouth that "Africa needs strong institutions rather than strong men". All of a sudden we felt that we were not left over. We became aware that we were not left alone in our fight for a society of freedom and dignity. Your choice to invite African youth rather than undemocratically elected Heads of states at the white house also made us proud and filled our hearts with huge hope.

Actually, Dear president, it is a sad fact that too many African countries are run today by strong men who have destroyed everything that could build the pillars of a nation state -institutions are belittled down, health system is destroyed, African children are lacking basic education because of dire ill-governance in their country. For a long time those African leaders have overlooked the general interest of their country in order to serve their own one.

They chose to squander the wealth of the country for their own and family benefit alone. As a result most of those countries under the rule of strong men are simply bound to vanish into anarchy.

We remember SOMALIA, former ZAIRE, IVORY COAST and ZIMBABWE, just to name them. Most of those strong African leaders run their country following the ups and downs of their whims. Some of them simply ask the advice of their wives or their cronies to call for a change of the constitution on the spot. Others wake up in the morning; drink up a cup of tea or coffee and say: "Guys, time is running out for us! Let us summon the assembly and have the constitution amended, otherwise we will be all thrown out into the street". That is the way current leaders rule us, Dear president.

Djibouti, my country, is one of these African countries under the rule of a strong man, Dear president.

What is worse in Djibouti is the fact that we are living under a hidden dictatorship because almost no one else except us Djiboutian does not seem to see closely the plight we are going through down here.

The current president, ISMAEL OMAR GUELLEH, is running the country with the use of force and daily threat. He has never accepted any fair and free election. He has recently amended the constitution by an underground parliament meeting and did so against the whole will of Djiboutian people so that he can stay in power for life.

Dear president, this small country but highly strategic is likely to add up another instability to this already troubled region if the current president does not open the country up for a democratic change this year. Djibouti is already becoming the hub for money laundering, extreme poverty is on the threshold of every single Djiboutian and the regime is among the most corrupt in the world.

With this worsening situation and the willingness of the current president to cling to power for ever we are likely to lose our dear country tomorrow, dear president, unless things get changed now.

That is why I decided to write this letter to you, Dear president.

This great country you are running today takes the source of its beautiful democracy, its liberty, its greatness from what the founding fathers enshrined more 200 years ago in the American constitution. We feel happy and admire this blessed country whose commander in chief you are today.

We Djiboutian would to like have a morsel of this cherished liberty on our soil today. We would like this 2011 coming presidential election to usher in a new era of democracy and freedom for Djiboutian people .Of course, it is first up to us to fight for our freedom but we need a push from the international community and especially from the USA.

We need your help to get a free and fair electoral system like our neighboring Somaliland so that we can be part of the free world tomorrow.

Dear president, a matter of freedom or dictatorship is prevailing in Djibouti this hour. In 1991 NELSON MANDELA put his first steps of the path of freedom after 27 years in prison. This was made possible thanks to the resolute of his fellow south- africans.But they did get help from the international community.

We Djiboutian people would like 2011 the year we retrieve our freedom and true democracy in home. May the world give us this god send push for the sake of our freedom!

*I have a dream that in April 2011 Djiboutian people will breathe the air of freedom springing out from the roots of their land.

*I have a dream that in April 2011 Djiboutian people will stand up for their rights and dignity.

*I have a dream that in April 2011 Djiboutian people will wake up free and proud in a country without dictatorship and oppression.

God bless America !
God free Djibouti.

MOHAMED HOUSSEIN
mohamed5dj@yahoo.fr
Ottawa