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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun Feb 20 2011 - 07:38:17 EST
Djibouti Opposition Meets After Violence at Protests; One Policeman Killed
By William Davison -
Feb 20, 2011 12:19 PM GMT+0100
<http://topics.bloomberg.com/djibouti/> Djibouti opposition groups were
scheduled to meet today to decide what steps to take next after police
allegedly fired on demonstrators yesterday, injuring at least two of them,
an opposition leader said.
"The situation is very bad," Ismail Guedi Hared, president of the Union for
a Democratic Alternative, said by phone late yesterday. The police "used
tear gas and they shot in every direction. I know two people are in
hospital."
One policeman was killed and a second one is in a coma after being stoned by
protesters, according to <http://www.djibouti24.com/> Djibouti24, a
Djibouti-based website.
Anti-government protests across North Africa since January ousted the
presidents of Egypt and Tunisia, while similar demonstrations have occurred
in Algeria and <http://topics.bloomberg.com/libya/> Libya. In Djibouti, the
Horn of <http://topics.bloomberg.com/africa/> Africa nation that hosts the
only U.S. military base on the continent, President Ismail Guelleh's
People's Rally for Progress party has ruled since independence in 1977. The
63- year-old leader, who was first elected in 1999, amended the constitution
in March to allow him to extend his rule by two more six-year terms.
Yesterday's protest turned violent near the Hassan Guled stadium in the
capital, Djibouti, Hared said. Live ammunition was used by both sides and a
crowd of about 100 demonstrators threw stones at the police after leaders of
the protest were escorted away, Djibouti24 said.
Confrontation
"The police are confronting demonstrators," Mohamed Daoud Chehem, head of
the Djibouti Party for Development, said by phone from the protest
yesterday. "They have opened fire," he said, without being able to specify
if anyone was injured or what type of ammunition was used.
Several calls today and yesterday to Ali Boumede, a spokesman for the
president, Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssuf, the president's office and
president's residence were either not answered, didn't connect or Bloomberg
was told the officials weren't available.
Chehem said that as many as 20,000 people had joined the protest against
Guelleh. The country has a population of about 860,000. Exiled Djiboutian
opposition leader Abdourahman Boreh, who is currently in
<http://topics.bloomberg.com/london/> London, said the demonstrations may
continue.
"We will see how it goes," Boreh said yesterday. "We will see how the
government reacts."
Last month, Boreh called for elections scheduled for April to be delayed by
as much as a year and for international monitors to oversee an electoral
roll that includes 130,000 to 140,000 of the population of about 865,000.
<http://topics.bloomberg.com/life-expectancy/> Life Expectancy
Djibouti ranks 148th out of 169 countries in the United Nations Development
Program's <http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/DJI.html> Human
Development Index, which measures life expectancy, education and
<http://topics.bloomberg.com/living-standards/> living standards.
"We're closely monitoring, keeping an eye on developments, especially as
they relate to any forces we may have in the region," Pentagon spokesman,
Marine Corps Colonel David Lapin, told reporters yesterday.
The U.S has had a
<http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/camp-lemonier.htm> base in
Djibouti since 2001, while former colonial power
<http://topics.bloomberg.com/france/> France also has a military based and
3,000 troops stationed in the country, which is smaller than the U.S. state
of <http://topics.bloomberg.com/massachusetts/> Massachusetts. The republic
borders the <http://topics.bloomberg.com/red-sea/> Red Sea and the Gulf of
Aden and is seen as a strategic location in the U.S.-led fight against
terrorism and piracy.
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