DJIBOUTI

27 June 1977:
Djibouti gains independence from France

Little is known about this east Africa country situated on the Horn of Africa and bordered by Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. Djibouti is located on the Gulf of Aden, near the entrance to the Red Sea, on of the world’s key shipping lanes.

In 1892 the country was colonized by the French. In 1977 she gained independent from France and Hassan Gouled became the first President. The country had its first general elections in 1981 and Gouled was the only candidate. In early 1990s Civil War broke out in Djibouti. The main opposition party, the Front for the Renewal Democracy demanded a change in the country’s leadership, arguing against an autocratic system of government and political intolerance.

Links to explore this further:

http://www.tsp.gatech.edu/world/djmap.html - for a large map

http://www.arab.net/djibouti/ and
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107467.html - provide business, geographic, historic and transport information

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/dj.html and http://travel.state.gov/djibouti.html - for the CIA’s and the U.S. State Dept’s take on Djibouti

http://allafrica.com/djibouti/ - for breaking news on Djibouti

http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/dj.html - links to government departments and political parties

http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/djibouti.html - is an annotated collection of many Djibouti-related sites

For a broad overview of African independence go to our site’s coverage of African Independence (chronology and history)