Djibouti
Republic of Djibouti
Capital: Djibouti
History
The French Territory of the Afars and the Issas became Djibouti in 1977. Hassan Gouled APTIDON installed an authoritarian one-party state and proceeded to serve as president until 1999. Unrest among the Afar minority during the 1990s led to a civil war that ended in 2001 with a peace accord between Afar rebels and the Somali Issa-dominated government. In 1999, Djibouti's first multiparty presidential elections resulted in the election of Ismail Omar GUELLEH as president; he was reelected to a second term in 2005 and extended his tenure in office via a constitutional amendment, which allowed him to begin a third term in 2011. Djibouti occupies a strategic geographic location at the intersection of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and serves as an important shipping portal for goods entering and leaving the east African highlands and transshipments between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The government holds longstanding ties to France, which maintains a significant military presence in the country, and has strong ties with the United States. Djibouti hosts several thousand members of US armed services at US-run Camp Lemonnier.
Geography
Metric Units
|
Total Area
|
23,200
sq km
|
| Land Boundaries |
516
km
|
| Border Countries |
Eritrea 109 km, Ethiopia 349 km, Somalia 58 km |
| Coastline |
314
km
|
| Terrain |
coastal plain and plateau separated by central mountains |
| Minimum Elevation |
-155
m
|
| Maximum Elevation |
2,028
m
|
| Climate |
desert; torrid, dry |
| Natural Resources |
potential geothermal power, gold, clay, granite, limestone, marble, salt, diatomite, gypsum, pumice, petroleum |
| Arable Land |
0.09% |
| Permanent Crops |
0% |
Economy
Budget & Debt
Trade
| Exports |
$101.7 million |
| Export Items |
reexports, hides and skins, coffee (in transit) |
| Export Partners |
Ethiopia 74.5%, Sudan 6.7%, Egypt 5.1% (2011) |
| Imports |
$465.1 million |
| Import Items |
foods, beverages, transport equipment, chemicals, petroleum products |
| Import Partners |
Saudi Arabia 17.6%, China 16.1%, India 15.4%, Indonesia 5.9%, Malaysia 5.1%, US 4.2%, Pakistan 4.1% (2011) |
People
Energy
