Djibouti (Arabic: جيبوتي Jībūtī, French: Djibouti, Somali: Jabuuti, Afar: Gabuuti), officially known as the Republic of Djibouti (Arabic: جمهورية جيبوتي Jumhūriyyat Jībūtī, French: République de Djibouti, Afar: Gabuutih Ummuuno, Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Jabuuti), is a little East African country, bordering Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. The country sits right next to the Bab al-Mandeb, a strait separating the Horn of Africa from the Arabian Peninsula. The strait connects the Indian Ocean with the Red Sea, and considering the Suez Canal sits at the far north of the Red Sea, this makes Djibouti an important stopover in the vast trade network between Europe and Asia.
The country is uniformly dry and arid, with half of the population living in the titular capital city. It also has the world's third-lowest land depression, after the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee: Lake Assal
, which is located very close to the sea but is cut off, meaning that whenever evaporation occurs (which it does a lot, thanks to it being located in a very hot region), the salt stacks up, making it 10 times saltier than seawater. It ranks among the world's saltiest bodies of water. The sea has at times been exploited for salt production, though the government has set up the entire lake under official protection.
Djibouti's population mostly consists of Somalis, with a significant Afar minority. The Somalis live in the southern areas, including the capital, while the Afars are dominant in the mountainous region of northern Djibouti. Despite this, neither Somali nor Afar enjoys official language status, which instead falls to Arabic and French. Djibouti has been a member of the Arab League and La Francophonie since 1977, and both Arabic and French are designated the country's official languages.
The land was originally known as Obock, and was part of the ancient Aksumite Empire. Various sultanates that popped up in the region in the late 13th century chipped away at the Ethiopians' power, and, today, most of Djibouti's population are Muslims. When the French came in the mid-19th century, the sultans in the area began to sign treaties with them, giving them each time more control until France’s influence was big enough to firmly establish a colony, the French Somaliland.
In 1958, when the independence of Somalia was imminent, a referendum was held to decided if Djibouti wanted to go independent and presumably join later with Somalia, or keep being a French protectorate. Since most of the European residents and the Afars were in favor of the French, they rigged the vote by expelling thousands of Somalis, who obviously wanted to join Somalia proper. In 1967, another referendum was due, and they did the same thing again, and just to piss off the losers they renamed the colony French Territory of the Afars and the Issas (a jab against the Somalis, because the Issas were just a sub-clan of them). In 1977 came a third referendum, but the Somali population was big enough to avoid the rigging and ended gaining independence.
They didn’t join with Somalia, though. The first president elected, Hassan Gouled Aptidon, turned the country into a one party state, eventually triggering a civil war in 1991 that ended in 1994. Considering that Somalia succumbed to civil war that all but destroyed and made it a failed state, maybe Djibouti should be glad of being an independent country. In 1999, the elderly Aptidon announced that he would step down. He was succeeded by his nephew Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, who has been ruling the country to this day.
Due to its strategic location that separates the Gulf of Aden from the Red Sea, and owing to its status as the most politically stable country in the region, Djibouti hosts numerous foreign military bases, including the French, the Americans (Camp Lemonnier is the United States' sole permanent military base in Africa), the Japanese, the Chinese (the latter two's only bases on foreign soil), and the Italians, to the point that military traffic accounts for 75% of total traffic in Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport, the country's only scheduled airport.
It’s highly unlikely that you ever see a reference to Djibouti in the media; usually it’s treated just as a part of Somalia or as a non-entity. The exception is the Rainbow Six Rogue Spear expansion pack Black Thorn, which featured a rescue mission in Djibouti, close to the Somalian border. There was also a mention of Djibouti in According to Jim, but it was mainly just so they could say “ye-booty”. On the other hand, it is the subject of an incredibly lame pickup line/meme in Model United Nations circles, namely, "I want to invade Djibouti with the aid of Greece", or "Swiggity Swooty I'm coming for Djibouti."
The Djiboutian flag
The Djiboutian national anthem
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Government
- Unitary dominant-party presidential republic
- President: Ismaïl Omar Guelleh
- Prime Minister: Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed
Miscellaneous
- Capital and largest city: Djibouti
- Population: 921,804
- Area: 23,200 km² (9,000 sq mi) (146th)
- Currency: Djiboutian franc (Fdj) (DJF)
- ISO-3166-1 Code: DJ
- Country calling code: 253
- Highest point: Mousa Ali (2028 m/6,654 ft) (124th)
- Lowest point: Lake Assal (−155 m/−509 ft) (3rd)
