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 Djibouti| Facts & Figures |
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Republic of Djibouti
President: Ismail Omar Guelleh
(1999) Prime Minister: Dileita Mohamed
Dileita (2001) Land area: 8,486 sq mi (21,979 sq km);
total area: 8,880 sq mi (23,000 sq km) Population (2009 est.): 516,055 (growth
rate: 1.9%); birth rate: 38.1/1000; infant mortality rate:
97.5/1000; life expectancy: 43.3; density per sq km: 22
Capital (1995 est.):
Djibouti, 383,000 Monetary unit: Djibouti franc More Facts & Figures |
Republic of Djibouti
GeographyDjibouti lies in northeast Africa on the Gulf of
Aden at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. It borders Ethiopia,
Eritrea, and Somalia. The country, the size of Massachusetts, is mainly a
stony desert, with scattered plateaus and highlands.
GovernmentRepublic with a unicameral legislature.
HistoryAblé immigrants from Arabia migrated to
what is now Djibouti in about the 3rd century
B.C.
Their descendants are the Afars, one of the two
main ethnic groups that make up Djibouti today. Somali Issas arrived
thereafter. Islam came to the region in 825.
Djibouti was acquired by France between 1843 and
1886 through treaties with the Somali sultans. Small, arid, and sparsely
populated, it is important chiefly because of the capital city's port, the
terminal of the Djibouti–Addis Ababa railway that carries 60% of
Ethiopia's foreign trade. Originally known as French Somaliland, the
colony voted in 1958 and 1967 to remain under French rule. It was renamed
the Territory of the Afars and Issas in 1967 and took the name of its
capital city on June 27, 1977, when France transferred sovereignty to the
new independent nation of Djibouti. On Sept. 4, 1992, voters approved in
referendum a new multiparty constitution. In 1991, conflict between the
Afars and the Issa-dominated government erupted and the continued warfare
has ravaged the country.
The dictatorial president, Hassan Gouled
Aptidon, who had run the country since its independence, finally stepped
aside in 1999, and Ismail Omar Guelleh was elected president. In March
2000, the main Afars rebel group signed a peace accord with the
government. The fighting, severe drought, and the presence of tens of
thousands of refugees from its war-torn neighbors, Ethiopia and Somalia,
have severely strained Djibouti's agricultural capacity.
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