Djibouti
Chief port and capital of the Republic of Djibouti, on a peninsula 240 km/149 mi southwest of Aden, Yemen, and 565 km/351 mi northeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; population (2002 est) 534,700. Industries include petroleum refining, textiles, and rail freighting. The city is an important regional bunkering and supply centre for the export trade in petroleum, and is the main export route for Ethiopian coffee; other exports include hides and salt.
The city succeeded Obock as capital of French Somaliland in 1892 and was the official port of Ethiopia from 1897 to 1949. The closure of the Suez Canal (1967–75) hit the port's trade badly. Djibouti is the terminus of the rail link from Addis Ababa.
Djibouti
Country on the east coast of Africa, at the south end of the Red Sea, bounded east by the Gulf of Aden, southeast by Somalia, south and west by Ethiopia, and northwest by Eritrea.
Government
Djibouti has a presidential political system, dominated by one ruling party, the right-of-centre People's Rally for Progress (RPP), although opposition parties are allowed. The 1992 constitution provides for a president, elected by universal suffrage for a six-year term, and a single-chamber legislature, the 65-member national assembly, elected for a five-year term in multi-member constituencies. The prime minister is appointed by the president and heads a council of ministers.History
During the 9th century missionaries from Arabia converted the Afars inhabiting the area to Islam. A series of wars was fought by the Afar Islamic states and Christian Ethiopia from the 13th to 17th centuries. The French arrived in the 1840s and in 1862 bought the anchorage of Obock. In the mid 1880s France expanded the protectorate to include Somaliland and the shores of the Gulf of Tadjoura, and in 1888 annexed Djibouti and the neighbouring region as the colony of French Somaliland. Trade to the port of Djibouti increased with the construction of the Franco-Ethiopian railway, which reached Addis Ababa in 1917. The French set up a territorial assembly in 1956, including a number of elected members, and in 1958, after a referendum, Djibouti joined the French community as an overseas territory. In 1967, 60% voted to retain association with France and the territory was renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas.Independence
Opposition to French rule grew during the 1970s, and calls for independence were frequent, sometimes violent. In a May 1977 referendum, electors voted for independence, which was achieved in June 1977, as the Republic of Djibouti. France was allowed to keep a contingent of 4,000 troops at the Djibouti naval base. Hassan Gouled Aptidon became the first president. In 1979 all political parties combined to form the People's Rally for Progress Assembly (RPC), and the government embarked on the task of uniting the two main ethnic groups: the majority Issas, who traditionally had strong links with Somalia; and the minority Afars, who had been linked with Ethiopia.Amicable neutralism
Under a new constitution in 1988, the RPP was made the only legal party. President Gouled was re-elected, and in 1982 a chamber of deputies was elected from a list of RPP nominees. Under Gouled, Djibouti pursued a largely successful policy of amicable neutralism with its neighbours, concluding treaties of friendship with Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, and Sudan, and tried to assist the peace process in East Africa. Although affected by the 1984–85 droughts, Djibouti managed to maintain stability with European Community aid. Gouled was re-elected in 1987 with 99% of the popular vote. In the first contested presidential elections in May 1993, he was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term, but with a reduced majority.Civil war
In 1991 a civil war broke out between the government, dominated by pro-Somali Issas, and the pro-Ethiopian Afar rebel group, the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD), which was harshly suppressed. In June 1994 the government reached an accord with FRUD to end two and a half years of fighting. Two FRUD members joined the cabinet, although harsh repression of Afars by the security police continued.In 1997, Gouled was elected for a fifth term as president. He retired in 1999, at the age of 83, and his nephew, Ismail Omar Guelleh, who had been a long-time advisor and head of security, was elected the new president, with 74% of the vote. The elections were generally fair, and for the first time, not boycotted by opposition groups. In May 2001, President Omar Guelleh signed a final peace accord with the armed faction of FRUD.
The RPP and FRUD contested the January 2003 national assembly elections together in the Union for a Presidential Majority, which won 63% of the vote. Ethnic tensions reduced, with power being shared by an Issa Somali president and an Afar prime minister, and with cabinet posts divided between the two communities. Gouled Aptidon died in November 2006.
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