Djibouti ready to pay compensation to settle the DP World dispute

Djibouti would be willing to pay DP World compensation of "more or less half a billion dollars". . . as early as next week "to settle a dispute over control of the city's Doraleh container terminal." In an interview with the Financial Times, Aboubaker Omar Hadi, president of the Port Authority and Free Zones of Djibouti, dismissed Arbitration discussions to settle a longstanding dispute over the most modern port of East Africa accept that he was no longer involved in the dispute.

"For us, the arbitration is over," he said. "They have to sit down with us, take their money and leave."

Last week, Djibouti opened the first phase of a $ 3.5 billion free trade zone in which China Merchants Group and Dalian Port Authority left. logistics company based in Dubai, said the new facility was in violation of its exclusive 30 years to manage Doraleh and warned that she was considering a lawsuit.

DP World said in a statement: "This is another clear example of the Djibouti government that violates its contractual obligations and the rights of foreign investors."

In February, Djibouti seized Doraleh – using the port in favor of other regional terminals, including Berbera in Somaliland, which DP World also manages.

"They were trying to control more and more ports in the Red Sea," Hadi said, adding that DP World had shown no interest in using Doraleh at full capacity. "It was then that we started saying that there was something wrong," he said.

Doraleh and Berbera are both on the Red Sea, a narrow course of water separating the east coast of Africa from the Gulf and a communication route for 30% of the world's ocean freight.

million. Hadi said that the amount of compensation that Djibouti was willing to pay was subject to detailed calculations, but that it would be based on the net present value of DP World's annual profits and dividends on the remaining 20 years of the concession.

DP World declined to comment. In the past, he rejected accusations that he deliberately starved Doraleh, claiming that he had always maintained that the region needed several competing ports. Last year, DP World won an arbitration proceeding against Djibouti, who claimed to have paid bribes to obtain the initial deal.

The conflict between Djibouti and DP World is part of a larger strategic maneuver in which several countries and companies are jostling for shipping routes.

Djibouti, wedged between Eritrea and Somalia, is marketed as a base for cargoes and military bases, part of whose justification is to combat piracy in the waters off the coast of Somalia. Somalia. The United States, China, France and Japan all have military bases in Djibouti a few kilometers from each other.

Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous country with 105 million inhabitants, also needs access to ports. He expressed his interest in exchanging shares of his airlines and telecoms for a stake in Doraleh, which Mr Hadi said in principle accepted by Djibouti.

In May, Ethiopia took a 19% stake in the port of Berbera, in which DP World holds a 51% stake. The self-proclaimed independent government of Somaliland has the remaining 30%.

This month, Ethiopia has entered into a peace agreement with Eritrea, ending 20 years of hostilities and giving it access to the ports of Assab and Masawa , also on the Red Sea.