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1 [1] (February 7, 2025)

handle is hein.crs/goveskj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Updated February 7, 2025 Djibouti Djibouti, a small, arid country in the Horn of Africa, is strategically located on one of the world's busiest shipping routes at the Bab el Mandeb Strait-the gateway from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean (Figure 1). Its geographic position has become its greatest national asset, and the government is capitalizing on it. A former French colony, Djibouti hosts a sizable French military presence and is home to U.S. Africa Command's primary base of operations in the Horn of Africa, Camp Lemonnier, the only enduring U.S. military installation in Africa. Djibouti has provided facilities for multinational antipiracy operations off Somalia's coast, and, in that context, Japan established its first post-World War II overseas military base there in 2011. Italy followed in 2013. German, Spanish, and British military personnel operate from the French and U.S. facilities. The People's Republic of China (PRC; China) opened its first overseas base there in 2017. With almost no arable land, few natural resources, and little industry, Djibouti's economy depends heavily on its service sector and trade through its port complex. Rents from foreign militaries, totaling over $125 million/year, are another key revenue stream. Neighboring Ethiopia, with over 120 million people, relies on Djibouti for the transit of over 90% of its trade, which reportedly brings Djibouti $400 million/year in port fees. Ethiopia accounts for roughly 80% of the goods that transit Djibouti's ports. Djibouti's ambitious agenda to become a global trade hub has been financed largely by China, which holds a majority of the country's external sovereign debt. The PRC views Djibouti as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to develop China-centered and -controlled infrastructure, transportation, trade, and production networks on a global scale. Among major PRC-financed projects is a $4 billion railway between Djibouti and Ethiopia. (For more, see CRS In Focus IF11304, China's Engagement in Djibouti.) Humanitaran and Development Situation Djibouti hosts over 30,000 refugees and asylum seekers who have fled neighboring states and nearby Yemen. Many refugees and migrants transit via Djibouti to other countries, given limited access to livelihood opportunities there. The State Department ranked Djibouti among the worst (Tier 3) in its 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report. Chronic drought contributes to a high prevalence of acute malnutrition in Djibouti's own population of roughly 1 million people. The country imports 90% of its food. It is categorized as a lower-middle-income country, with an estimated GDP per capita of $4155 in 2024, but Djibouti ranks toward the bottom of the UN Development Program's Human Development Index (171 out of 193 countries). The youth unemployment rate is over 75%, and the country struggles with a shortage of skilled labor. Over 60% of the rural population lives in extreme poverty. Female genital mutilation/cutting is prevalent, despite a law prohibiting it. Figure I. Djibouti Source: CRS, using ESRI and U.S. State Department data. Poitica Situation President Ismal Omar Guelleh has led Djibouti since 1999, when he was elected after the retirement of the country's first president, Hassan Gouled Aptidon (Guelleh's uncle). Critics argue that Guelleh's government is authoritarian and corrupt. His political opponents contend that opening the country to foreign bases has shielded the president from greater Western criticism of abuses, allowing Guelleh to tighten his hold on power, despite public discontent. In 2010, near the end of Guelleh's second term in office, the parliament amended the constitution to abolish term limits. He has since won reelection three more times, in 2011, 2016 and 2021 (despite having vowed that his 2011 reelection would be his third and final time); he carried the 2021 election with 97% of the vote. As in previous elections, opposition parties, most of which boycotted the poll, asserted that the process was rigged. Age limits in the current constitution would make Guelleh, born in 1947, ineligible to run for reelection again in 2026. He says he will not change the constitution and that his party will choose a new candidate to run in the next election. Power within Guelleh's Union for the Presidential Majority coalition (UMP), which maintains an overwhelming majority in parliament, is heavily concentrated in his own party. Most opposition parties boycotted the 2023 parliamentary elections. The State Department's human rights report on Djibouti for 2023 (the most recent) notes that formal structures of representative government and electoral processes had little relevance to the real distribution and exercise of power. The report highlights suppression of the opposition; arbitrary arrests of journalists, academics, demonstrators, and opposition members; and restrictions on freedom of assembly and speech. It suggests that some officials engaged in corrupt practices with impunity, and describes impunity as a problem in the security sector. n ressbn I Research SerVe ~rni~n t[e ieci~ Ii 'e d )dte it. 1. 14

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