2001 Scores

Status: Partly Free
Freedom Rating: 4.5
Civil Liberties: 5
Political Rights: 4

Ratings Change

Djibouti's civil liberties rating changed from 6 to 5 due to the signing of a peace accord between the government and the radical wing of the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD).

Overview

Djibouti appeared in the international spotlight by hosting talks on peace in Somalia. The talks eventually led to the election in August 2000 of a Somalian president and national assembly after Somalia had spent nearly a decade without any form of central authority. For its own part, Djibouti was engaged in a more private peace process. It reached an accord in February with the radical wing of the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD). The agreement between President Ismael Omar Guelleh and FRUD's Dini Ahmed Dini ended the Afar insurgency in the north.

Djibouti was known as the French Territory of the Afar and Issa before receiving independence from France in 1977. President Hassad Gouled Aptidon controlled a one-party system until 1992, when a new constitution adopted by referendum authorized four political parties. In 1993, he was declared winner of a fourth 6-year term in Djibouti's first contested presidential elections. Both the opposition and international observers considered the poll fraudulent.

Afar rebels of FRUD had launched a three-year guerrilla war against Issa "tribal dictatorship" in 1991 with demands for an installation of a democratic, multiparty system. The largest FRUD faction agreed in 1994 to end its insurgency in exchange for inclusion in the government and electoral reforms. Djibouti's people are deeply divided along ethnic and clan lines. The majority Issa (Somali) and minority Afar peoples hold most political power. Legislative elections in 1997 returned the ruling party to power, thereby reinforcing the long dominance of the Mamassan clan of the majority Issa ethnic group.

President Aptidon, stepped down in April 1999 after 22 years in power, opening the way for the country's first free presidential election since independence. Guelleh, of the ruling Popular Rally for Progress (RPP) party, defeated opposition leader Moussa Ahmed Idriss, of the Unified Djiboutian Opposition (ODU). Guelleh, who is Aptidon's nephew and a former head of state security, had long been considered the de facto head of government and president's heir apparent.

Approximately 2,700 French troops are among 10,000 French residents of Djibouti. French advisors and technicians effectively run much of the country, though this is slowly changing.

Djibouti has little industry, few natural resources, and high unemployment. Services provide most of the national income. Efforts to curb rampant corruption have met with little success. However, the International Monetary Fund in July praised Djibouti's efforts at privatization, especially management its Red Sea port.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

The trappings of representative government and formal administration have had little relevance to the real distribution and exercise of power in Djibouti. The April 1999 presidential poll was marked by low turnout among the fewer than 200,000 eligible voters. Guelleh won the poll with 74 percent of the vote, compared to 26 percent for Moussa Ahmed Idriss. For the first time since elections began in 1992, no group boycotted the vote. Although international observers declared the poll generally fair, the ruling party had the advantage of state resources to conduct its campaign.

The 1997 legislative elections were marginally more credible than the plainly fraudulent 1992 polls, but easily reinstalled the ruling RPP, which, in coalition with the legalized arm of FRUD at the time, won all 65 national assembly seats. Aptidon had sought the appearance of ethnic balance in government by appointing Afars as prime ministers. FRUD leaders joined the cabinet as part of the 1994 peace pact.

Constraints on political activities eased in the 1990s. Five political parties exist. Freedom of assembly and association is nominally protected under the constitution, but the government has little tolerance for political protest. The judiciary is not independent, owing to routine government interference. A position was established in 2000 for a mediator for Djiboutians to seek redress in disputes with the government.

Despite constitutional protection, freedom of speech is not guaranteed. The government closely controls all electronic media. There is one official newspaper. Independent newspapers, most of which are in the form of newsletters, are generally allowed to circulate freely, but journalists exercise self-censorship. Islam is the official state religion, but freedom of worship is respected.

Security forces arrest dissidents without proper authority, despite constitutional requirements that arrests may not occur without a decree presented by a judicial magistrate. Prison conditions are harsh with reports of beatings and torture, and rape of female inmates. There are complaints of harassment of political opponents and union leaders.

The formal sector in the largely rural agricultural and nomadic subsistence economy is small. Workers may join unions and strike, but the government routinely obstructs the free operation of unions. The state body, the General Union of Djiboutian Workers, and the Union of Djiboutian Workers formed a confederation in 1995 and have gained increasing support despite government harassment. About 70 percent of formal workers are members of the confederation.

Despite equality under civil law, women suffer serious discrimination under customary practices in inheritance and other property matters, divorce, and the right to travel. Women have few opportunities for education or in the formal economic sector. Female genital mutilation is almost universal among Djibouti's women, and legislation forbidding mutilation of young girls is not enforced. The government has made efforts at increasing the enrollment of girls in school.

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