Djibouti
Summary
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 election 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 serve a third term in 2011 and begin a fourth term in 2016. Djibouti occupies a strategic geographic location at the intersection of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Its ports handle 95% of Ethiopia’s trade. Djibouti’s ports also service transshipments between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The government holds longstanding ties to France, which maintains a military presence in the country, as does the US, Japan, Italy, Germany, Spain, and China.
📷: Wikipedia
Statistics
From the The Joshua Project [2]
In the News
📷: Needpix.com
Prayer Guide
Several evangelical fellowships exist among the immigrant groups flooding Djibouti in recent years – from Ethiopia, Madagascar, Congo-DRC, the Philippines, Eritrea and other places. Many of these congregations share a strong spiritual burden to reach the Somali and Afar peoples. Pray that they may be relevant and effective in their witness. Pray that their own reconciliation and unity made possible in Christ might be a witness to the divided and hostile peoples of Djibouti.
The few Somali and Afar believers are often isolated and suffer many pressures from relatives. Their families may ostracize, beat or even kill them for deserting Islam. Pray that they might stand firm in their commitment to follow Jesus. There are many disruptive forces such as tribalism and jealousy that create division among the believers and make them reluctant to meet together. Pray for a new bond of unity. Many of the believers are jobless, and some are illiterate – pray for effective use of literacy and vocational training programmes. Small groups of local believers are gathering for fellowship. Pray for effective use of the Scriptures in these meetings and for the Holy Spirit to work in each life. Pray that God will raise up strong Christian leaders from among and for the Somali and Afar believers.