Djibouti

Djibouti is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east.

The French Territory of the Afars and the Issas became Djibouti in 1977. Hassan Gouled APTIDON installed an authoritarian one-party state and proceeded to serve as president until 1999. Unrest among the Afar minority during the 1990s led to a civil war that ended in 2001 with a peace accord between Afar rebels and the Somali Issa-dominated government. In 1999, Djibouti’s first multiparty presidential elections resulted in the election of Ismail Omar GUELLEH as president; he was reelected to a second term in 2005 and extended his tenure in office via a constitutional amendment, which allowed him to begin a third term in 2011. Djibouti occupies a strategic geographic location at the intersection of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and serves as an important shipping portal for goods entering and leaving the east African highlands and transshipments between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The government holds longstanding ties to France, which maintains a significant military presence in the country, and has strong ties with the United States. Djibouti hosts several thousand members of US armed services at US-run Camp Lemonnier.

Capital: Djibouti

Government: Republic

Economy:

• Based on service activities connected with the country’s strategic location and status as a free trade zone.
• Provides services as both a transit port for the region and an international transshipment and refueling center.
• Djibouti has few natural resources and little industry.  Therefore, Djibouti is heavily dependent on foreign assistance to help support its balance of payment and to finance development projects.

Population: 906,000 (UN 2011)

Land Size: 23,200 sq km (8,950 sq miles)

Major Ethic Groups:

• Somali: 60%
• Afar: 35%
• Other: 5% (includes French, Arab, Ethiopian, and Italian)

Religions:

• Muslim: 94%
• Christian: 6%

Language(s):

• French (official)
• Arabic (official)
• Somali
• Afar

For more information about Djibouti, please visit:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/dj.html