Africa A to Z: Continental and Country Profiles: Third Edition

Djibouti

COUNTRY PROFILES A-Z 164 Africa A-Z: Continental and Country Profiles | Africa Institute of South Africa Djibouti Orientation In area, Djibouti is one of Africa’s smallest mainland countries, larger only than Swaziland and The Gambia. The country is adjacent to the Horn of Africa on the African side of the Gulf of Aden, at the southern end of the Red Sea. From the Gulf of Aden another stretch of sea, the Gulf of Tadjoura, juts deep into Djibouti. Except for southern Eritrea (Djibouti’s northern neighbour) and Somalia (to the southeast), Ethiopia’s large territory almost entirely encloses Djibouti. The country’s interior consists mainly of rock-strewn desert with salt pans and patches of volcanic activity. Lake Assal, in the middle of the country, lies 174 m below sea level. Temperatures are torrid throughout the year, with high humidity at times and minimal rainfall. There is very little arable land and the only perennial vegetation is to be found in the higher-lying areas along the northern side of the Gulf of Tadjoura. The country is centred on the port city of Djibouti, situated on the south side of the Gulf of Tadjoura. Djibouti City has around 350 000 inhabitants. People The population consists of two large Cushitic groups, the Afar and the Issa. The Afar (or Danakil) are the traditional inhabitants of the northern areas and overflow into Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Issa form the majority group; they are a Somali clan who dominate in the southern part of the country, bordering on Somalia. In Djibouti City there are long-established minority groups: the Arab trading community (largely of Yemeni origin) and a European presence (mainly French). More than half of the country’s some 650 000 inhabitants live in Djibouti City. The people of Djibouti are overwhelmingly Muslim; Islam is the state religion and the official languages are Arabic and French. Economy The services provided by the well- equipped port of Djibouti form the mainstay of the economy. Used by France as a naval base, the port is linked with Addis Ababa in Ethiopia by a 780 km railway, of which over 100 km falls within Djibouti territory. The economy benefited from the recent establishment of a US military base. The American troops are stationed at Djibouti City and at Obock, to the north. Agriculture in this desert country is mainly confined to livestock products, including hides and skins. Virtually all food COUNTRY PROFILES A-Z Africa Institute of South Africa | Africa A-Z: Continental and Country Profiles 165 requirements and consumer articles have to be imported. In 2003 the World Food Programme was providing some 100 000 Djiboutians with food. The country has few mineral resources and none is commercially exploited. Electricity generation is from oil-fired power stations. History The sea route around the Horn of Africa and its Cushite inhabitants were well known to the ancient Arab, Indian and Roman mariners. By the seventh century of the first millennium the arid coastal plains to the north of the Gulf of Tadjoura had already been inhabited by the Afar people. A century or two later the Issa, migrating from southern Ethiopia, came to occupy the area to the south of this gulf. Both the Afar and the Issa were nomadic livestock herders and spoke related Cushitic languages. In the course of the ninth century the Cushites were Islamised by the Arabs. The Muslim peoples in this region were later subjugated and incorporated by the Ethiopian Christians into the Ethiopian empire. However, when, by the 16th century, the Muslim groups became unified in the Adal sultanate, that included present-day Djibouti, they liberated themselves from the Ethiopians. By now, in the 16th century, the lucrative trade the Arabs had been conducting in the Horn of Africa (including slave trading) were attracting the seafarers of other nations, notably the Portuguese and the Turks. In the second half of the 19th century the French, British and the Italians began to compete for control of the sea route through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, which opened in 1869. The lands of the Afar and the Issa were strategically located for this purpose as they were situated near the Bab el Mandeb, the narrow southern end of the Red Sea. Having, in 1855, purchased the enclave of Obock, on the north coast of the Gulf of Tadjoura, from the Afar, the French gradually expanded their foothold around the Gulf...