1,158,704,224 visitors served.

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

The 1992 constitution provides for a president, elected by universal suffrage for a six-year term, renewable only once, and a single-chamber legislature, the 65-member chamber of deputies, similarly elected for a five-year term. 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 1862, and in 1888 annexed Djibouti and the neighbouring region as the colony of French Somaliland. In 1967 it was renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas. Opposition to French rule grew during the 1970s, and calls for independence were frequent, sometimes violent.

Independence

Independence as the Republic of Djibouti was achieved in 1977, with Hassan Gouled as president. In 1979 all political parties combined to form the People's Progress Assembly (RPP), and the government embarked on the task of uniting the two main ethnic groups: the Issas, who traditionally had strong links with Somalia, and the Afars, who had been linked with Ethiopia.

Amicable neutralism

In 1981 a new constitution was adopted, making the RPP the only 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 98.71% 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 June 1994 the government reached an accord with the most militant Afar group, the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy, thus ending two and a half years of civil war. However, harsh repression of Afars by the security police continued.

In 1999, Ismail Omar Guelleh was elected president. In 2001, Prime Minister Barkat Gourad Hamadou resigned on health grounds and was replaced by Dileita Mohamed Dileita.

Afars and the Issas, French Territory of the

French Somaliland

Jibuti

Somaliland