Djibouti and Djiboutian News

Country Profile
Djibouti officially the Republic of Djibouti is a country in the 'Horn of Africa'(alternatively Northeast Africa or Somali Peninsula; shortened to HOA)

In 1946 Djibouti was made an overseas territory within the French Union with its own legislature and representation in the French parliament

In 1958 Djibouti votes in a referendum to join the French Community.

In 1967 a second referendum was held and voting was also divided along ethnic lines, with the resident Somalis generally voting for independence, with the goal of eventual union with Somalia, and the Afars largely opting to remain associated with France.Shortly after the referendum was held,French Somaliland was renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas

In 1977 a third referendum was held and 98.8% of the electorate supported disengagement from France, officially marking Djibouti's independence


Djibouti got independence from France in 1977 and  thereafter was left with a government which enjoyed a balance between the two main ethnic groups, the Issa of Somali origin and the Afar of Ethiopian origin

Djibouti's first president, Hassan Gouled Aptidon, installed an authoritarian one-party state dominated by his own Issa community.When resentment erupted into a civil war in the early 1990s, and though Mr Gouled, under French pressure, introduced a limited multi-party system in 1992, the rebels from the Afar party, the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (Frud), were excluded

The civil war ended in 1994 with a power-sharing deal which brought the main faction of Frud into government. A splinter, radical faction continued to fight until 2000, when it too signed a peace deal with the government of Gouled's successor, Ismael Omar Guelleh(succeeded his uncle and Djibouti's first president, Hassan Gouled Aptidon, in April 1999 at the age of 52. He was elected in a multi-party ballot)

Ismael Omar Guelleh, known in Djibouti by his initials, IOG, won a second term in a one-man presidential race in 2005 and a third term in April 2011

The country is home to the biggest French and US military bases in Africa

2013Djiboutian Parliamentary Election -Friday Feb 22,2013

Djibouti opposition parties have joined forces to take part in parliamentary polls, ending a 10-year boycott

President Ismael Omar Guelleh, whose party held all 65 seats in the last parliament, said it was a "milestone for the democratisation" of Djibouti.