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Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area of .

In antiquity, the territory, together with Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somaliland, was part of the Land of Punt. Nearby Zeila, now in Somaliland, was the seat of the medieval Adal and Ifat Sultanates. In the late 19th century, the colony of French Somaliland was established following treaties signed by the ruling Dir Somali sultans with the French, and its railroad to Dire Dawa (and later Addis Ababa) allowed it to quickly supersede Zeila as the port for southern Ethiopia and the Ogaden. It was renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas in 1967. A decade later, the Djiboutian people voted for independence. This officially marked the establishment of the ''Republic of Djibouti'', named after its capital city. The new state joined the United Nations. In the early 1990s, tensions over government representation led to armed conflict, which ended in a power-sharing agreement in 2000 between the ruling party and the opposition.

Djibouti is a multi-ethnic nation with a population of over 920,000 ( the smallest in mainland Africa). French and Arabic are the country's two official languages, Afar and Somali are national languages. About 94% adhere to Islam, which is the official religion and has been predominant in the region for more than a thousand years. The Somalis and Afar make up the two largest ethnic groups, with the former comprising the majority of the population. Both speak a language of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages.

Djibouti is near some of the world's busiest shipping lanes, controlling access to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. It serves as a key refuelling and transshipment center, and the principal maritime port for imports from and exports to neighboring Ethiopia. A burgeoning commercial hub, the nation is the site of various foreign military bases. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) regional body also has its headquarters in Djibouti City.

Name and etymology

''Djibouti'' is officially known as the ''Republic of Djibouti''. In local languages it is known as ''Yibuuti'' (in Afar) and ''Jabuuti'' (in Somali).

The country is named for its capital, the City of Djibouti. The etymology of the name is disputed. Several theories and legends exist regarding its origin, varying based on ethnicity. One theory derives it from the Afar word , meaning "plate", possibly referring to the geographical features of the area. Another connects it to ''gabood'', meaning "upland/plateau". Djibouti could also mean "Land of ''Tehuti''" or "Land of Thoth (Egyptian: ''Djehuti''/ ''Djehuty'')", after the Egyptian Moon God.

From 1862 until 1894, the land to the north of the Gulf of Tadjoura was called "Obock". Under French administration, from 1883 to 1967 the area was known as French Somaliland (French: ''Côte française des Somalis''), and from 1967 to 1977 as the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas (French: ''Territoire français des Afars et des Issas'').

History

Prehistory

The Bab-el-Mandeb region has often been considered a primary crossing point for early hominins following a southern coastal route from East Africa to South and Southeast Asia.

The Djibouti area has been inhabited since the Neolithic. According to linguists, the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations arrived in the region during this period from the family's proposed urheimat ("original homeland") in the Nile Valley, or the Near East. Other scholars propose that the Afroasiatic family developed in situ in the Horn, with its speakers subsequently dispersing from there.

Cut stones dated about 3 million years old have been collected in the area of Lake Abbe. In the Gobaad plain (between Dikhil and Lake Abbe), the remains of a Palaeoloxodon recki elephant were also discovered, visibly butchered using basalt tools found nearby. These remains would date from 1.4 million years BCE. Subsequently, other similar sites were identified as probably the work of Homo ergaster. An Acheulean site (from 800,000 to 400,000 years BCE), where stone was cut, was excavated in the 1990s, in Gombourta, between Damerdjog and Loyada, 15 km south of Djibouti City. Finally, in Gobaad, a Homo erectus jaw was found, dating from 100,000 BCE. On Devil's Island, tools dating back 6,000 years have been found, which were used to open shells. In the area at the bottom of Goubet (Dankalélo, not far from Devil's Island), circular stone structures and fragments of painted pottery have also been discovered. Previous investigators have also reported a fragmentary maxilla, attributed to an older form of Homo sapiens and dated to ~250 Ka, from the valley of the Dagadlé Wadi.

Pottery predating the mid-2nd millennium has been found at Asa Koma, an inland lake area on the Gobaad Plain. The site's ware is characterized by punctate and incision geometric designs, which bear a similarity to the Sabir culture phase 1 ceramics from Ma'layba in Southern Arabia. Long-horned humpless cattle bones have likewise been discovered at Asa Koma, suggesting that domesticated cattle were present by around 3,500 years ago. Rock art of what appear to be antelopes and a giraffe are also found at Dorra and Balho. Handoga, dated to the fourth millennium BCE, has in turn yielded obsidian microliths and plain ceramics used by early nomadic pastoralists with domesticated cattle.

The site of Wakrita is a small Neolithic establishment located on a wadi in the tectonic depression of Gobaad in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. The 2005 excavations yielded abundant ceramics that enabled us to define one Neolithic cultural facies of this region, which was also identified at the nearby site of Asa Koma. The faunal remains confirm the importance of fishing in Neolithic settlements close to Lake Abbé, but also the importance of bovine husbandry and, for the first time in this area, evidence for caprine herding practices. Radiocarbon dating places this occupation at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE, similar in range to Asa Koma. These two sites represent the oldest evidence of herding in the region, and they provide a better understanding of the development of Neolithic societies in this region.

Up to 4000 years BCE, the region benefited from a climate very different from the one it knows today and probably close to the Mediterranean climate. The water resources were numerous with lakes in Gobaad, lakes Assal and Abbé larger and resembling real bodies of water. The humans therefore lived by gathering, fishing and hunting. The region was populated by a very rich fauna: felines, buffaloes, elephants, rhinos, etc., as evidenced, for example, by the bestiary of cave paintings at Balho. In the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE, few nomads settled around the lakes and practiced fishing and cattle breeding. The burial of an 18-year-old woman, dating from this period, as well as the bones of hunted animals, bone tools and small jewels have been unearthed. By about 1500 BCE, the climate was already beginning to change, with sources of fresh water becoming more scarce. Engravings show dromedaries (animal of arid zones), some of which are ridden by armed warriors. The sedentary people now returned to a , nomadic life. Stone tumuli of various shapes and sheltering graves dating from this period have been unearthed all over the territory.

Punt (2,500 BCE)

Together with northern Ethiopia, Somaliland, Eritrea and the Red Sea coast of Sudan, Djibouti is considered the most likely location of the territory known to the Ancient Egyptians as '' Punt'' (or ''Ta Netjeru'', meaning "God's Land"). The first mention of the Land of Punt dates to the 25th century BC. The Puntites were a nation of people who had close relations with Ancient Egypt during the reign of the 5th dynasty Pharaoh Sahure and the 18th dynasty Queen Hatshepsut. According to the temple murals at Deir el-Bahari, the Land of Punt was ruled at that time by King Parahu and Queen Ati.

Macrobians (247 BCE)

The Macrobians (Μακροβίοι) were a legendary people and kingdom positioned in the Horn of Africa mentioned by Herodotus. Later authors (so Pliny on the authority of Ctesias' ''Indika'') place them in India instead. It is one of the legendary peoples postulated at the extremity of the known world (from the perspective of the Greeks), in this case in the extreme south, contrasting with the Hyperboreans in the extreme east. Their name is due to their legendary longevity, an average person supposedly living to the age of 120. They were said to be the "tallest and handsomest of all men".Wheeler pg 526 According to Herodotus' account, the Persian Emperor Cambyses II upon his conquest of Egypt (525 BC) sent ambassadors to Macrobia, bringing luxury gifts for the Macrobian king to entice his submission. The Macrobian ruler, who was elected based at least in part on stature, replied instead with a challenge for his Persian counterpart in the form of an unstrung bow: if the Persians could manage to string it, they would have the right to invade his country; but until then, they should thank the gods that the Macrobians never decided to invade their empire.John Kitto, James Taylor, ''The popular cyclopædia of Biblical literature: condensed from the larger work'', (Gould and Lincoln: 1856), p.302.

Kingdom of Adal (900–1285)

The ''Kingdom of Adal'' (also ''Awdal'', ''Adl'', or ''Adel'')Mohamed Haji Mukhtar, ''Historical Dictionary of Somalia'', new edn, African Historical Dictionary Series, 87 (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003), s.v. ''Awdal'' . 44 was centered around Zeila, its capital. It was established by the local Somali tribes in the early 9th century. Zeila attracted merchants from around the world, contributing to the wealth of the city. Zeila is an ancient city and it was one of the earliest cities in the world to embrace Islam, shortly after the hijra. Zeila's two-mihrab Masjid al-Qiblatayn dates to the 7th century, and is the oldest mosque.

In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi, an Armenian Muslim scholar and traveler, wrote that the Kingdom of Adal was a small wealthy kingdom and that Zeila served as the headquarters for the kingdom, which dated back to the beginning of the century.

Ifat Sultanate (1285–1415)

Through close contacts with the adjacent Arabian Peninsula for more than 1,000 years, the Somali and Afar ethnic groups in the region became among the first populations on the continent to embrace Islam. The Ifat Sultanate was a Muslim medieval kingdom in the Horn of Africa. Founded in 1285 by the Walashma dynasty, it was centered in Zeila. Ifat established bases in Djibouti and Somaliland, and from there expanded southward to the Ahmar Mountains. Its Sultan Umar Walashma (or his son Ali, according to another source) is recorded as having conquered the Sultanate of Shewa in 1285. Taddesse Tamrat explains Sultan Umar's military expedition as an effort to consolidate the Muslim territories in the Horn, in much the same way as Emperor Yekuno Amlak was attempting to unite the Christian territories in the highlands during the same period. These two states inevitably came into conflict over Shewa and territories further south. A lengthy war ensued, but the Muslim sultanates of the time were not strongly unified. Ifat was finally defeated by Emperor Amda Seyon I of Ethiopia in 1332, and withdrew from Shewa.

Adal Sultanate (1415–1577)

According to the 16th-century explorer Leo Africanus, the Adal Sultanate's realm encompassed the geographical area between the Bab el Mandeb and Cape Guardafui. It was therefore flanked to the south by the Ajuran Empire (Kingdom of Ajuuran) and to the west by the Abyssinian Empire (Abassin Empire). Adal is mentioned by name in the 14th century in the context of the battles between the Muslims of the Somali and Afar seaboard and the Abyssinian King Amda Seyon I's Christian troops. Adal originally had its capital in the port city of Zeila, situated in the western Awdal region. The polity at the time was an Emirate in the larger Ifat Sultanate ruled by the Walashma dynasty.
According to I.M. Lewis, the polity was governed by local dynasties consisting of Afarized Arabs or Arabized Somalis, who also ruled over the similarly established Sultanate of Mogadishu in the Benadir region to the south. Adal's history from this founding period forth would be characterized by a succession of battles with neighbouring Abyssinia. At its height, the Adal kingdom controlled large parts of modern-day Djibouti, Somaliland, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Between Djibouti City and Loyada are a number of anthropomorphic and phallic stelae. The structures are associated with graves of rectangular shape flanked by vertical slabs, as also found in Tiya, central Ethiopia. The Djibouti-Loyada stelae are of uncertain age, and some of them are adorned with a T-shaped symbol. Additionally, archaeological excavations at Tiya have yielded tombs. As of 1997, 118 stelae were reported in the area. Along with the stelae in the Hadiya Zone, the structures are identified by local residents as ''Yegragn Dingay'' or "Gran's stone", in reference to Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi (Ahmad "Gurey" or "Gran"), ruler of the Adal Sultanate.

Ottoman Eyalet (1577–1867)

Although nominally part of the Ottoman Empire since 1577, between 1821 and 1841, Muhammad Ali, Pasha of Egypt, came to control Yemen, Harar, Gulf of Tadjoura with Zeila and Berbera included. The Governor Abou Baker ordered the Egyptian garrison at Sagallo to retire to Zeila. The cruiser Seignelay reached Sagallo shortly after the Egyptians had departed. French troops occupied the fort despite protests from the British Agent in Aden, Major Frederick Mercer Hunter, who dispatched troops to safeguard British and Egyptian interests in Zeila and prevent further extension of French influence in that direction. FRENCH SOMALI COAST Timeline

On 14 April 1884 the Commander of the patrol sloop L'Inferent reported on the Egyptian occupation in the Gulf of Tadjoura. The Commander of the patrol sloop Le Vaudreuil reported that the Egyptians were occupying the interior between Obock and Tadjoura. Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia signed an accord with Great Britain to cease fighting the Egyptians and to allow the evacuation of Egyptian forces from Ethiopia and the Somaliland littoral. The Egyptian garrison was withdrawn from Tadjoura. Léonce Lagarde deployed a patrol sloop to Tadjoura the following night.

French rule (1883–1977)

The boundaries of the present-day Djibouti state were established as the first French establishment in the Horn of Africa during the Scramble for Africa. The March 11, 1862, agreement the Afar sultan, Raieta Dini Ahmet, signed in Paris was a treaty where the Afars sold lands surrounding in Obock. The French were interested in having a coaling station for steamships, which would become especially important upon the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. (Up to that time French ships had to buy coal at the British port of Aden across the gulf, an unwise dependency in case of war.) Later on, that treaty was used by the captain of the Fleuriot de Langle to colonize the south of the Gulf of Tadjoura. On March 26, 1885, the French signed another treaty with the Issas where the latter would become a protectorate under the French, no monetary exchange occurred and Issa clan did not sign away any of their rights to the land, the agreement was to kick the Gadebuursi, who were against the French, and the Isaaq from the country with the help of the French. It was established between 1883 and 1887, after the ruling Somalis and Afar sultans each signed a treaty with the French.Raph Uwechue, ''Africa year book and who's who'', (Africa Journal Ltd.: 1977), p. 209 .''A Political Chronology of Africa'', (Taylor & Francis: 2001), p. 132 . An attempt by Nikolay Ivanovitch Achinov, a Russian adventurer, to establish a settlement at Sagallo in 1889 was promptly thwarted by French forces after just one month. In 1894, Léonce Lagarde established a permanent French administration in the city of Djibouti and named the region French Somaliland. As is shown in "Morin" (2005), this name has been proposed by Mohamed Haji Dide of the Mahad 'Ase branch of the Gadabuursi. It lasted from 1896 until 1967, when it was renamed the ''Territoire Français des Afars et des Issas'' (TFAI) (" French Territory of the Afars and the Issas"), after France, the colonial power, has empowered the Issas clan at the expense of the Gadabuursi.
The construction of the Imperial Ethiopian Railway west into Ethiopia turned the port of Djibouti into a boomtown of 15,000" at a time when Harar was the only city in Ethiopia to exceed that.

Although the population fell after the completion of the railwayline to Dire Dawa and the original company failed and required a government bail-out, the rail link allowed the territory to quickly supersede the caravan-based trade carried on at Zeila (then in the British area of Somaliland) and become the premier port for coffee and other goods leaving southern Ethiopia and the Ogaden through Harar.

After the Italian invasion and occupation of Ethiopia in the mid-1930s, constant border skirmishes occurred between French forces in French Somaliland and Italian forces in Italian East Africa. In June 1940, during the early stages of World War II, France fell and the colony was then ruled by the pro- Axis Vichy (French) government.

British and Commonwealth forces fought the neighboring Italians during the East African Campaign. In 1941, the Italians were defeated and the Vichy forces in French Somaliland were isolated. The Vichy French administration continued to hold out in the colony for over a year after the Italian collapse. In response, the British blockaded the port of Djibouti City but it could not prevent local French from providing information on the passing ship convoys. In 1942, about 4,000 British troops occupied the city. A local battalion from French Somaliland participated in the Liberation of Paris in 1944.

In 1958, on the eve of neighboring Somalia's independence in 1960, a referendum was held in Djibouti to decide whether to remain with France or to be an independent country. The referendum turned out in favour of a continued association with France, partly due to a combined yes vote by the sizable Afar ethnic group and resident French.Barrington, Lowell (2006
''After Independence: Making and Protecting the Nation in Postcolonial and Postcommunist States''
. University of Michigan Press. p. 115. There were also allegations of widespread vote rigging. The majority of those who had voted no were Somalis who were strongly in favour of joining a united Somalia as had been proposed by Mahmoud Harbi, Vice President of the Government Council. Harbi was killed in a plane crash two years later under suspicious circumstances.

In 1966, France rejected the United Nations' recommendation that it should grant French Somaliland independence. In August of the same year, an official visit to the territory by then French President, General Charles de Gaulle, was also met with demonstrations and rioting.''Newsweek'', Volume 81, (Newsweek: 1973), p.254. In response to the protests, de Gaulle ordered another referendum.

In 1967, a second plebiscite was held to determine the fate of the territory. Initial results supported a continued but looser relationship with France. 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. The referendum was again marred by reports of vote rigging on the part of the French authorities.American Universities Field Staff (1968) ''Northeast Africa series'', Volume 15, Issue 1, p. 3. Shortly after the plebiscite was held, the former ''Côte française des Somalis'' (French Somaliland) was renamed to ''Territoire français des Afars et des Issas''. Announcement of the plebiscite results sparked civil unrest, including several deaths. France also increased its military force along the frontier.Alvin J. Cottrell, Robert Michael Burrell, Georgetown University. Center for Strategic and International Studies, ''The Indian Ocean: its political, economic, and military importance'', (Praeger: 1972), p.166.

During the 1960s, the struggle for independence was led by the Front for the Liberation of the Somali Coast (FLCS), who waged an armed struggle for independence with much of its violence aimed at French personnel. FLCS used to initiate few mounting cross-border operations into French Somaliland from Somalia and Ethiopia to attacks on French targets. On March 24, 1975, the Front de Libération de la Côte des Somalis kidnapped the French Ambassador to Somalia, Jean Guery, to be exchanged against two activists of FLCS members who were both serving life terms in mainland France. He was exchanged for the two FLCS members in Aden, South Yemen. The FLCS was recognized as a national liberation movement by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which participated in its financing. The FLCS evolved its demands between the request of integration in a possible "Greater Somalia" influenced by the Somali government or the simple independence of the territory. In 1975 the African People's League for the Independence (LPAI) and FLCS met in Kampala, Uganda with several meeting later they finally opted for independence path, causing tensions with Somalia.

In 1976, members of the Front de Libération de la Côte des Somalis which sought Djibouti's independence from France, also clashed with the Gendarmerie Nationale Intervention Group over a bus hijacking en route to Loyada. This event, by showing the difficulties of maintaining the French colonial presence in Djibouti, was an important step in the independence of the territory. The likelihood of a third referendum appearing successful for the French had grown even dimmer. The prohibitive cost of maintaining the colony, France's last outpost on the continent, was another factor that compelled observers to doubt that the French would attempt to hold on to the territory.

Djibouti Republic

A third independence referendum was held in the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas on 8 May 1977. The previous referendums were held in 1958 and 1967,Kevin Shillington, ''Encyclopedia of African history'', (CRC Press: 2005), p.360. which rejected independence. This referendum backed independence from France. A landslide 98.8% of the electorate supported disengagement from France, officially marking Djibouti's independence. Hassan Gouled Aptidon, an Issa (ethnic Somali) politician who had campaigned for a yes vote in the referendum of 1958, became the nation's first president (1977–1999).

During its first year, Djibouti joined the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union), the Arab League and United Nations. In 1986, the nascent republic was also among the founding members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development regional development organization. During the Ogaden War, influential Issa politicians envisioned a Greater Djibouti or "Issa-land", where Djibouti's borders would extend from the Red Sea to Dire Dawa. That dream however was dashed towards the end of the war as Somali forces were routed from Ethiopia.

In the early 1990s, tensions over government representation led to armed conflict between Djibouti's ruling People's Rally for Progress (PRP) party and the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD) opposition group. The impasse ended in a power-sharing agreement in 2000.

In April 2021, Ismael Guelleh, the second President of Djibouti since independence from France in 1977, was re-elected for his fifth term.

Politics

Djibouti is a unitary presidential republic, with executive power resting in the presidency, which is by turn dominant over the cabinet, and legislative power in both the government and the National Assembly.

Governance

The President, Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, is the prominent figure in Djiboutian politics; the head of state and commander-in-chief. The President exercises their executive power assisted by their appointee, the Prime Minister, Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed. The Council of Ministers (cabinet) is responsible to and presided over by the President.

The judicial system consists of courts of first instance, a High Court of Appeal, and a Supreme Court. The legal system is a blend of French civil law and customary law ('' Xeer'') of the Somali and Afar peoples.

The National Assembly (formerly the ''Chamber of Deputies'') is the country's legislature, consisting of 65 members elected every five years. Although unicameral, the Constitution provides for the creation of a Senate.

The last election was held on 23 February 2018. Djibouti has a dominant-party system, with the People's Rally for Progress (RPP) controlling the legislature and the executive since its foundation in 1979 (the party rules as a part of the Union for a Presidential Majority, which holds a supermajority of seats). Opposition parties are allowed (limited) freedom, but the main opposition party, the Union for National Salvation, boycotted the 2005 and 2008 elections, citing government control of the media and repression of the opposition candidates.

The government is dominated by the Somali Issa Dir clan, who enjoy the support of the Somali clans, especially the Gadabuursi Dir clan. The country emerged from a decade-long civil war at the end of the 1990s, with the government and the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD) signing a peace treaty in 2000. Two FRUD members subsequently joined the cabinet, and beginning with the presidential elections of 1999, the FRUD has campaigned in support of the RPP.

Djibouti's president, Guelleh, succeeded Hassan Gouled Aptidon in office in 1999. Guelleh was sworn in for his second six-year term after a one-man election on 8 April 2005. He took 100% of the votes in a 78.9% turnout. In early 2011, the Djiboutian citizenry took part in a series of protests against the long-serving government, which were associated with the larger Arab Spring demonstrations. Guelleh was re-elected to a third term later that year, with 80.63% of the vote in a 75% turnout. Although opposition groups boycotted the ballot over changes to the constitution permitting Guelleh to run again for office, international observers from the African Union generally described the election as free and fair.

On 31 March 2013, Guelleh replaced long-serving Prime Minister Dilleita Mohamed Dilleita

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