Ali Aref Bourhan (1934– )

Djibouti politician, president of the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas (French Somaliland prior to 1967; Djibouti from 1977) 1967–77. His political philosophy had to encompass the prospect of eventual independence for the territory, but Bourhan held that this would only be effective and practical if the new republic remained firmly within the French community.

Bourhan entered the political arena in 1957, when he became a member of French Somaliland's territorial assembly. In 1958 he became vice president of the assembly, and by 1967 his political career had led him to become vice president and then president of the council of government.

In 1967 a referendum for an ‘enlarged autonomy’ was held and the territory was renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas (TFAI). In the new government, dominated by the Afar party L'Union Nationale pour l'Indépendence (UNI), led by Alī Arif, Bourhan retained the presidency under the slogan ‘Unity and progress within the French community’.

The issue of the country's independence came before the UN General Assembly in 1975, when a resolution of immediate granting of independence to the TFAI was adopted. Following elections held in March 1977 he was succeeded as president by Hassan Gouled. The territory became fully independent, as Djibouti, in June 1977.