ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Djibouti. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Djibouti. Djibouti was known as the French Territory of the Afar and Issa before gaining independence from France in 1977. Djibouti's people are deeply divided along ethnic and clan lines. The majority Issa and minority Afar peoples hold most political power. Djibouti closed its border with the self-declared Republic of Somaliland in April because of a trade dispute over cigarettes. The trappings of representative government and formal administration have had little relevance to the real distribution and exercise of power in Djibouti. The Djiboutian Human Rights League, women's groups, and other nongovernmental organizations operate without hindrance.
