-
Make a real difference...
-
to communities across Africa.
-
Share skills and knowledge...
-
and sponsor children...
-
to develop a better future
-
...and change lives forever!
The history of Djibouti has been discussed elsewhere.
Djibouti was ruled in the nineteenth century by a Sultan, but by
1862 the French had started purchasing land there to support its
coaling station at Obock after signing
a deal with Afar leaders. In 1884 the French formally annexed the territory
during the ' Scramble for Africa ' and in 1896 named
it French Somaliland. At the end of the Second World War
and after temporary occupation by Italy, the territory was declared
a French Overseas Territory. In 1958 the French held a
referendum to ascertain whether its people
wanted to remain with France or join the soon to be independent
Republic of Somalia.
In what was considered a rigged vote
after many Somalians were ejected from Djibouti and foreign
residents having a vote creating a stay
with France outcome and, with France openly supporting the Afar
minority, just 25% of the population voted for independence. Djibouti was then effectively told that it
would lose its largely self governing status and become a French
territory being ruled by the French Parliament. Demands for independence increased after new electoral rules
were passed in 1963, effectively abolishing direct
representation in the French Parliament in exchange for a system
of straight plurality vote based on lists submitted by political
parties in seven designated districts within Djibouti.
President de Gaulle's visited the territory in 1966 and was left
in no doubt about the growing mood for independence and clamours
for that change with two days of demonstrations and rioting
against a backdrop of many other African nations becoming
independent republics throughout the 1960s and early 1970s.
In response to this and following his visit, de Gaulle
appointed Louis Saget as Governor General on 21st September 1966
and a further referendum was held to establish the future of the
country. When it was held in March 1967 60% voted to remain as
part of France and, in July that year, the name of the region was
changed to Territoire Francais des Afars et des Issas
(the French Territory of Afars and Issas.) The Governor
General post was also changed to that of High Commissioner. It should be noted that prior to the
referendum 10,000 Somalis were deported from the country with
the reason given that they did not have valid identity cards and
the result itself was split along ethic lines with the Somali
population with its sub-clan of Issas generally supporting
independence with a view to joining a united Somalia while the
Afar population wanted to remain with France. Interestingly at the time, Djibouti had a
population of 58,240 Somali and 48,270 Afar however only 14,689
Somali were allowed to register to vote against 22,004 Afar.
There were also suggestions that the French had extended the
vote to many Afar living as nomads in Ethiopia. Following the
outcome of the referendum there was rioting with the French
military killing eleven Issa protestors (below).
Demands for independence continued and gained momentum during
1974-1975 as many nomadic Issas crossed into the country fleeing
a severe drought in Somalia at that time. As such, many
observers concluded that if a third referendum were to be held,
France would be unlikely to achieve its preferred outcome and
others doubted France could even sustain the cost of running the
country. By 1972 Hassan Gouled Aptidon, a pro
independence Issa nationalist politician, had became leader of
the Issa based Union Populaire Africaine (UPA, African
People's Union) and three years later formed the country's first
multi-ethnic political party, Ligue Populaire Africane pour
l'Indepenuance (LPAI, African People's League for the
Independence) when the UPA merged with the Afar led Ligue
pour l'avenir et l'ordre (LAO, League for the Future and
Order).
The new party campaigned for independence and secured a
99% vote for it in a third referendum with Hassan Gouled Aptidon
becoming prime minister. France then granted full independence
on 27th June 1977 as the Republique de Djibouti with Gouled
Aptidon as president. On 12th June 1981 Gouled was re-elected into that role with 84% of
the vole, however he was the only candidate and Djibouti then
became a one party state with opposition parties banned. Gouled
Aptidon continued as president until 1999 and his rule was to
see a stark decline in Djibouti's fortunes with the economy
shrinking by some 40%. In his latter years his nephew, Ismail
Omar Guelleh (above), manoeuvred for control and, following Gouled's
retirement in 1999, was selected as party president winning the
1999 election with 80% of the vote. He remains in office to this
day having wond the last election in 2021 with 97.30% of the vote after an opposition boycott.
Djibouti Independence: Volunteer in Djibouti
|
Djibouti Independence: Djibouti History
|
Djibouti Independence: Colonial Djibouti
|
Djibouti Independence: Child Sponsor Djibouti
|
Djibouti Independence: Djibouti Country Profile
|
|
Details of current volunteer work
opportunities in each of the
countries of Africa.
Find how to sponsor a child in Africa
with our list of organisations,
charities, programs and projects.
Discover all about Africa, its tourist
attractions, history, people, culture
and daily life there.
