Djibouti

mean elevation:

430 m

elevation extremes:

-155 m lowest point: Lac Assal; 2021 highest point: Moussa Ali

• most densely populated areas are in the east;
• the largest city is Djibouti, with a population over 600,000;
• no other city in the country has a total population over 50,000

• earthquakes;
• droughts;
• occasional cyclonic disturbances from the Indian Ocean bring heavy rains and flash floods volcanism: experiences limited volcanic activity;
• Ardoukoba (298 m) last erupted in 1978;
• Manda-Inakir, located along the Ethiopian border, is also historically active

• inadequate supplies of potable water;
• water pollution;
• limited arable land;
• deforestation (forests threatened by agriculture and the use of wood for fuel);
• desertification;
• endangered species

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

• strategic location near world's busiest shipping lanes and close to Arabian oilfields;
• terminus of rail traffic into Ethiopia;
• mostly wasteland;
• Lac Assal (Lake Assal) is the lowest point in Africa and the saltiest lake in the world

noun:

Djiboutian(s)

adjective:

Djiboutian

0-14 years:

30.71% (male 136,191 /female 135,263)

15-24 years:

21.01% (male 87,520 /female 98,239)

25-54 years:

39.63% (male 145,427 /female 204,927)

55-64 years:

4.82% (male 18,967 /female 23,639)

65 years and over:

3.83% (male 15,136 /female 18,708) (2018 est.)

total dependency ratio:

56.5 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio:

50.1 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio:

6.4 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio:

15.6 (2015 est.)

• most densely populated areas are in the east;
• the largest city is Djibouti, with a population over 600,000;
• no other city in the country has a total population over 50,000

at birth:

1.02 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

0-14 years:

1.01 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

15-24 years:

0.89 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

25-54 years:

0.71 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

55-64 years:

0.85 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

65 years and over:

0.82 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

total population:

0.84 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

degree of risk:

high (2016)

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever (2016)

vectorborne diseases:

dengue fever (2016)

conventional long form:

Republic of Djibouti

conventional short form:

Djibouti

local long form:

Republique de Djibouti/Jumhuriyat Jibuti

local short form:

Djibouti/Jibuti

former:

French Somaliland, French Territory of the Afars and Issas

etymology:

the country name derives from the capital city of Djibouti

name:

Djibouti

geographic coordinates:

11 35 N, 43 09 E

time difference:

UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

history:

approved by referendum 4 September 1992 (2017)

amendments:

• proposed by the president of the republic or by the National Assembly;
• Assembly consideration of proposals requires assent by at least one-third of the membership;
• passage requires a simple majority vote by the Assembly and approval by simple majority vote in a referendum;
• the president can opt to bypass a referendum if adopted by at least two-thirds majority vote of the Assembly;
• constitutional articles on the sovereignty of Djibouti, its republican form of government, and its pluralist form of democracy cannot by amended;
• amended 2006, 2008, 2010 (2017)

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

the mother must be a citizen of Djibouti

dual citizenship recognized:

no

residency requirement for naturalization:

10 years

highest courts:

Supreme Court or Cour Supreme (consists of NA magistrates); Constitutional Council (consists of 6 magistrates)

judge selection and term of office:

• Supreme Court magistrates appointed by the president with the advice of the Superior Council of the Magistracy or CSM, a 10-member body consisting of 4 judges, 3 members (non parliamentarians and judges) appointed by the president, and 3 appointed by the National Assembly president or speaker;
• magistrates appointed for life with retirement at age 65;
• Constitutional Council magistrate appointments - 2 by the president of the republic, 2 by the president of the National Assembly, and 2 by the CSM;
• magistrates appointed for 8-year, non-renewable terms

subordinate courts:

• High Court of Appeal;
• 5 Courts of First Instance;
• customary courts;
• State Court (replaced sharia courts in 2003)

chief of state:

President Ismail Omar GUELLEH (since 8 May 1999)

head of government:

Prime Minister Abdoulkader Kamil MOHAMED (since 1 April 2013)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers appointed by the prime minister

elections/appointments:

• president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term;
• election last held on 8 April 2016 (next to be held by 2021);
• prime minister appointed by the president

election results:

Ismail Omar GUELLEH reelected president for a fourth term; percent of vote - Ismail Omar GUELLEH (RPP) 87%, Omar Elmi KHAIREH (CDU) 7.3%, other 5.6%

description:

unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale, formerly the Chamber of Deputies (65 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by party-list proportional representation vote; members serve 5-year terms)

elections:

last held on 23 February 2018 (next to be held in February 2023)

election results:

• percent of vote by party - NA;
• seats by party - UMP 57, UDJ-PDD 7, CDU 1;
• composition - men 58, women 7, percent of women 10.8%

• Center for United Democrats or CDU [Omar Elmi KHAIREH, chairman]
• Democratic Renewal Party or PRD [Abdillahi HAMARITEH]
• Djibouti Development Party or PDD [Mohamed Daoud CHEHEM]
• Front for Restoration of Unity and Democracy (Front pour la Restauration de l'Unite Democratique) or FRUD [Ali Mohamed DAOUD]
• Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development [Daher Ahmed FARAH]
• Movement for Development and Liberty or MoDel [Ismail Ahmed WABERI]
• National Democratic Party or PND [Aden Robleh AWALEH]
• People's Rally for Progress or RPP [Ismail Omar GUELLEH] (governing party)
• Peoples Social Democratic Party or PPSD [Hasna Moumin BAHDON]
• Republican Alliance for Democracy or ARD
• Union for a Presidential Majority or UMP (coalition includes RPP, FRUD, PND, PPSD)
• Union for Democracy and Justice or UDJ [Ilya Ismail GUEDI Hared]
• Union for National Salvation or USN [Ahmed Youssouf HOUMED] (coalition includes ARD, MoDel, MRD, PDD, PND, UDJ)

chief of mission:

Ambassador Mohamed Said DOUALEH (28 December 2016)

chancery:

1156 15th Street NW, Suite 515, Washington, DC 20005

telephone:

[1] (202) 331-0270

FAX:

[1] (202) 331-0302

chief of mission:

Ambassador Larry Edward ANDRE, Jr. (since 20 November 2017)

embassy:

Lot 350-B, Haramouss

mailing address:

B.P. 185, Djibouti

telephone:

[253] 21 45 30 00

FAX:

[253] 21 45 31 29

• two equal horizontal bands of light blue (top) and light green with a white isosceles triangle based on the hoist side bearing a red five-pointed star in the center;
• blue stands for sea and sky and the Issa Somali people;
• green symbolizes earth and the Afar people;
• white represents peace;
• the red star recalls the struggle for independence and stands for unity

name:

"Jabuuti" (Djibouti)

lyrics/music:

Aden ELMI/Abdi ROBLEH

note: adopted 1977

agriculture:

NA

industry:

NA

services:

NA

lowest 10%:

30.9% (2002)

highest 10%:

30.9% (2002)

general assessment:

• telephone facilities in the city of Djibouti are adequate, as are the microwave radio relay connections to outlying areas of the country;
• Djibouti is one of the few remaining countries in which the national telco, Djibouti Telecom (DT), has a monopoly on all telecom services, including fixed lines, mobile, internet and broadband;
• the lack of competition has meant that the market has not lived up to its potential (2017)

domestic:

• Djibouti Telecom (DT) is the sole provider of telecommunications services and utilizes mostly a microwave radio relay network;
• fiber-optic cable is installed in the capital;
• rural areas connected via wireless local loop radio systems;
• mobile cellular coverage is primarily limited to the area in and around Djibouti city;
• 4 per 100 fixed-line, 43 per 100 moblie-cellular (2017)

international:

• country code - 253;
• landing point for the SEA-ME-WE-3 and EASSy fiber-optic submarine cable systems providing links to Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America;
• satellite earth stations - 2 (1 Intelsat - Indian Ocean and 1 Arabsat);
• work starts on the PEACE submarine cable linking Djibouti with Pakistan;
• Djibouti Telecom joins six other regional telcos to build the DARE submarine cable system, is contracted to manage the Australia West Cable landing;
• Djibouti Internet Exchange (DjIX) joins the African IXP Association;
• Djibouti Telecom signs an agreement to peer IP traffic through France-IX's IXPs in Paris and Marseille;
• growth in the mobile and internet sectors accelerates with 3G launch (2017)

• state-owned Radiodiffusion-Television de Djibouti operates the sole terrestrial TV station, as well as the only 2 domestic radio networks;
• no private TV or radio stations;
• transmissions of several international broadcasters are available (2007)

total:

97 km (Djibouti segment of the 756 km Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway) (2017)

standard gauge:

97 km 1.435-m gauge (2017)

total:

3,065 km (2000)

paved:

1,379 km (2000)

unpaved:

1,686 km (2000)

total:

18 (2017)

by type:

oil tanker 2, other 16 (2017)

• 18 years of age for voluntary military service;
• 16-25 years of age for voluntary military training;
• no conscription (2012)

• the International Maritime Bureau reports offshore waters in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden remain a high risk for piracy;
• the presence of several naval task forces in the Gulf of Aden and additional anti-piracy measures on the part of ship operators, including the use of on-board armed security teams, contributed to the drop in incidents;
• there were three incidents in the Gulf of Aden and one in the Red Sea in 2017;
• Operation Ocean Shield, the NATO/EUNAVFOR naval task force established in 2009 to combat Somali piracy, concluded its operations in December 2016 as a result of the drop in reported incidents over the last few years;
• the EU naval mission, Operation ATALANTA, continues its operations in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean through 2020;
• naval units from Japan, India, and China also operate in conjuction with EU forces;
• China has established a logistical base in Djibouti to support its deployed naval units in the Horn of Africa

al-Shabaab:

aim(s): punish Djibouti for participating in the African Union Mission in Somalia; compel Djibouti to withdraw troops from Somalia

area(s) of operation:

maintains minimal operational presence (April 2018)

current situation:

• Djibouti is a transit, source, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking;
• economic migrants from East Africa en route to Yemen and other Middle East locations are vulnerable to exploitation in Djibouti;
• some women and girls may be forced into domestic servitude or prostitution after reaching Djibouti City, the Ethiopia-Djibouti trucking corridor, or Obock – the main crossing point into Yemen;
• Djiboutian and foreign children may be forced to beg, to work as domestic servants, or to commit theft and other petty crimes

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List – Djibouti does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• however, it is making significant efforts to do so;
• in 2014, Djibouti was granted a waiver from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3 because its government has a written plan that, if implemented would constitute making significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• one forced labor trafficker was convicted in 2014 but received a suspended sentence inadequate to deter trafficking;
• authorities did not investigate or prosecute any other forced labor crimes, any sex trafficking offenses, or any officials complicit in human trafficking, and remained limited in their ability to recognize or protect trafficking victims;
• official round-ups, detentions, and deportations of non-Djiboutian residents, including children without screening for trafficking victims remained routine;
• the government did not provide care to victims but supported local NGOs operating centers that assisted victims (2015)