Some US troops set up camp in support of US-led war on terror. Djibouti denies the allegation. At least nine Djiboutian soldiers killed. US condemns Eritrean "aggression" but Eritrea denies launching an attack. At least two people are killed in confrontation with police. They reject the result, which gave the governing Union for the Presidential Majority 49 of 65 seats. Somali Islamist group al-Shabab claims responsibility. As this suggests, the country has a high urbanisation rate, with more than three-quarters of the population residing in urban centres.
The population growth rate of 2. Djibouti is the 40th-fastest-growing country globally. Djibouti is also a young country. More than half of the population is under the age of This leads to a dependency ratio of However, in the next decade the youth cohort will transition to the working age population, and with the demographic growth rate likely to slow, the dependency ratio should decline to the benefit of the country.
This will provide the potential for a substantial labour force, opportunities for tax revenue growth and a reduction in welfare expenditure. As such, the demographic dynamics of the country are favourable for strong economic growth. The two official languages are French and Arabic.
There are also small populations of Arabs, French, Ethiopians and Italians. The area that makes up the modern state has been inhabited since at least Neolithic times, while animal bones found at Asa Koma suggest the use of domesticated cattle for years. In antiquity, Djibouti is believed to have been part of the area known to Egyptians as Punt, a trading territory that stretched from the Red Sea Sudanese coast to the northern reaches of Somalia, taking in Eritrea.
The territory was ruled through a series of sultanates. However, in the 19th century, as trade and competition between European powers fuelled their imperial ambitions, the territory became of particular interest to foreign states. While Britain developed an interest in Egypt and Sudan to the north, Yemen to the east and Somalia to the south, France established a presence in the territory that would later become Djibouti.
In , French involvement was formalised with the creation of the protectorates of Obock and Tadjoura, subsequently known as French Somaliland. The French eventually moved the administrative capital of these areas to Djibouti, in , and soon afterwards began construction of a narrow-gauge railway, in Following the end of the Second World War, the French also began to develop stronger political mechanisms in the territory.
Greater autonomy arrived in with the creation of a territorial assembly and a local executive council that advised the French-appointed governor.
Amnesty International reported arbitrary detentions and use of torture by the Djibouti government against the political opposition in and Government authorities said that persons were killed and 84 injured in an incident in Arhiba, an Afar-dominated district of the capital. An Afar member of the Chamber of Deputies claimed that 30 people had been killed after police fired indiscriminately into a group of about people.
Fighting between the government army and the armed opposition FRUD continued around government-held Tadjoura and Obock. Seventeen Afar deputies, protesting the killings and mistreatment of nomads by the army near Tadjoura, resigned from the Chamber of Deputies and demanded talks between the government and the FRUD. Another 14 Afar deputies resigned from the RPP. Although the capital was not directly affected by the fighting in the north, tensions increased as the handling of the crisis provoked dissension within the RPP.
The fighting between the FRUD and the government army continued around Tadjoura and Gadade district, and near Kikhil in the south of the country. Gouled promised that the Arabs, the Issaqs and the Gadabursis would be included in the construction of multi-party democracy.
President Gouled announced that a constitutional referendum would be held on September 4, to be followed by legalization of political parties. The United Opposition Front FUO, an umbrella group including members of the parliamentary opposition and FRUD published in Paris an appeal to non-governmental organizations to send aid to some , civilians in the north and south-west of Djibouti.
According the FUO, about people were dying every day due to drought and a government blockade of rebel-active areas. Also, Ethiopia was allegedly blocking access to the region. Two other ministers had already resigned since January to join the opposition. The multi-party general election, which was rescheduled for November 20 from September 4 , was postponed until December 18 by a presidential decree.
In the first multi-party election since independence, the RPP won all 65 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. President Gouled carried out a Cabinet reshuffle, maintaining the delicate ethnic balance of the government, with 8 ministries being assigned to Issas, 7 to Afars including Prime Minister , and portfolio each going to the Arabs, Gadabursi, and Issaq.
The army regained control of the whole South after driving guerrilla forces from areas they had held for a year. Gouled won his fourth term of office in presidential elections which were marked by opposition allegations of irregularities.
The government launched a major offensive against FRUD. FRUD rebel forces withdrew to the mountains in the far north. The State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for reported that there were new reports, especially in the first quarter of the year, that government security forces abused detainees, especially Afars in the northern region and in Djiboutiville, and those suspected of links to FRUD.
There were also credible reports of government forces being involved in the rape of at least 12 women and girls in Mabla and Oueima regions in March. On at least two occasions the government razed squatter settlements built on public lands by Afars, and others from Somalia and Ethiopia, displaced by the civil conflict.
Since , about mostly Afar civilians have fled to Ethiopia and Eritrea to avoid the civil conflict. The government party, People's Rally for Progress Popular Movement for Progress , holds all parliamentary seats and significant government posts. The next legislative elections are scheduled for According to the Association for the Defense of Human Rights and Liberties, the Djibouti army arrested some 50 Afar tribesmen and reportedly executed seven of them in retaliation for several FRUD attacks on December 31, The round-up of Afars took place in the region of Day, 55 km north of Tadjourah.
Traditional Afar leaders have asked the U. Security Council to intervene after alleged attacks on civilians by government troops. They said they received no reply to a similar request sent in September following attacks by government troops in which civilians were allegedly massacred, raped, arrested, and tortured. The tribal authorities have also urged France to take action against human rights violations in the country since they have several thousand troops stationed there.
Ali Mohamed Daoud later became president, and Ahmed remained secretary general. After the reshuffling, FRUD accepted the strategy of negotiating with the government. FRUD reported that it fought off a government offensive around several villages in the Mount Mabla region north of Tadjourah. FRUD reported 16 casualties and government losses were thought to be much higher. There were 20 civilians reported killed. The Djibouti Association for the Defense of Human Rights and Liberties said that many civilians in Mabla and Weima were recently killed by government shelling and combat helicopters.
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