From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Mon Sep 28 2009 - 09:57:38 EDT
Djibouti Facing Local Insurgency and Threats from Somali Islamists Publication:
Terrorism Monitor Volume: 7 Issue: 29
September 25, 2009 11:03 AM Age: 3 days
Category: Terrorism Monitor, Global Terrorism Analysis, Home Page,
Military/Security, Africa
By: Andrew McGregor
Few nations in the world are as strategically important but as little known
as Djibouti, a small desert nation of half a million people in the heart of
the Horn of Africa. A lingering insurgency by the ethnic-Afar Front pour la
Restauration de l’Unité et de la Démocratie (Front for the Restoration of
Unity and Democracy - FRUD) that many believed was over in 2001 has
reemerged as one of a number of security problems challenging Djibouti’s
continued stability.
FRUD is based in northern Djibouti, the traditional home of the nomadic Afar
people. The Afar ethnic group represents roughly a third of the population
in Djibouti, where the dominant ethnic Somali group is divided between the
majority Issa clan and smaller groups from the Issaq clan and the Gadabursi,
a Dir sub-clan. Most of the nomadic Afars live in the Danakil Desert of
Ethiopia, giving them their alternate name of “Danakil.” The lack of Afar
representation in the central government sparked the Djiboutian Civil War in
1991. France became involved in both mediation efforts and support missions
for government troops, but the conflict continued until 2001, when the
remaining radical faction signed a peace agreement with the government and
joined the president’s governing coalition. Since then, however, it appears
that a number of Afar militants have retaken the field, dissatisfied with
the implementation of the peace treaty. Most of the movement made peace
with the government in 1994, with a group of hardliners under the late FRUD
founder Ahmad Dini Ahmad holding out until 2001 before cutting their own
deal with the government. Though certain roles at the highest level of the
government have been reserved for Afars, the rest of the administration is
still largely dominated by the ethnic-Somali Issa clan.
Hassan Mokbel, the FRUD spokesman, announced in early September that the
movement had fought off an attack by the Djibouti military on one of their
bases in the northern Mablas region. Though the attack was supported by two
helicopter gunships that bombarded FRUD positions, Mokbel claims the rebels
killed four soldiers and wounded 20 others in repulsing the government
attack (FRUD communiqué, carried by dabio.net, September 1; Middle East
Online, September 1). The troops were units of the Armée Nationale
Djiboutienne (AND) based at Gal Ela in Mablas, together with reinforcements
from the barracks at Tadjourah and Obock. If the FRUD reports are accurate,
the action would appear to be the Djibouti army’s biggest offensive against
the Afar guerrillas since May, 2006, when Colonel Abdo Abdi Dembil of the
Presidential Guard led 2000 men through the Tadjourah and Obock districts
(FRUD communiqué, May 17, 2006, carried by harowo.com, May 22, 2006).
The FRUD militants term the present Djibouti regime a 32-year-old
dictatorship characterized by a refusal to conduct free and transparent
elections, a refusal to honor peace agreements, the repression of social
movements (including trade unions) and the killing of innocent civilians,
citing the killing of five people during the November 2005 clearance of the
slum district Arhiba in Djibouti City (FRUD communiqué, June 26, carried by
the Sudan Tribune, July 3; FRUD communiqué, May 17, 2006, carried by
harowo.com, May 22, 2006).
According to spokesman Hassan Mokbel, “FRUD, which has a politico-military
approach, does not exclude any option. For FRUD, armed struggle was never
the only solution. These options come in a wide range, combining social
actions and mass actions and diplomatic policies… FRUD has until today
ensured its military presence on the ground and is able to respond to any
aggression on the part of the AND. In addition, FRUD has considerably
strengthened its positions in the Djibouti diaspora in Europe, North America
and Oceania [including New Zealand and Australia]” (Les Nouvelles.org,
January 24, 2006).
Mokbel complains that “international forces” are placing advanced technology
such as satellite surveillance at the disposal of President Guelleh, who
uses it to thwart the development of “true democracy” in Djibouti. Guelleh
is also accused of playing the French army against the U.S. military to
extract the greatest concessions from each (Les Nouvelles.org, January 24,
2006). The FRUD spokesman maintains that the movement has never been equated
with terrorism because it has never targeted civilians – “I would even add
that the activities of FRUD are the antithesis of religious proselytism (Les
Nouvelles.org, January 24, 2006). In June, FRUD appealed to the people of
Djibouti to “end the lifetime presidency of Ismael Omar Guelleh” and join
FRUD’s struggle for “justice, for a real national state and for authentic
democracy” (FRUD communiqué, June 26, carried by the Sudan Tribune, July 3).
France first arrived in the region in 1862, when it acquired the port of
Obock from the local Sultans. By 1888, the Djibouti region had become the
colony of French Somaliland, giving France a strategic presence in the Horn
of Africa that was largely unaffected by independence in 1977 (French
Somaliland was known as “The French Territory of the Afars and the Issas”
from 1967 to 1977). France continues to guarantee Djibouti’s territorial
integrity from foreign aggression, but now finds itself competing for the
attention of Djibouti’s leaders with the powerful new American military
presence based at Camp Lemonier since 2002. Camp Lemonier, once a French
Foreign Legion base, now hosts the American Combined Joint Task Force - Horn
of Africa (CJTF-HOA), which focuses on coordinating U.S. military activity
in the region, including anti-terrorism operations. In recent years China
has emerged as a new suitor, seeking to establish diplomatic and economic
ties with Djibouti.
Though Djibouti’s ethnic-Somalis have so far escaped being dragged into the
interminable conflict raging between their ethnic-Somali cousins in Somalia,
Djibouti’s role as a host of French and American training of Transitional
Federal Government (TFG) troops and African Union Mission in Somalia
(AMISOM) forces and its own offer of peacekeeping troops for Somalia have
incensed Somalia’s al-Shabaab Islamist militants. Al-Shabaab, which has
carried out a number of deadly suicide bomb attacks against AMISOM targets,
has promised to prepare a similar welcome for the Djiboutians (Garowe
Online, September 18).
Djibouti’s rapidly deteriorating economy and massive unemployment in an
increasingly urban population is another threat to its future stability.
Djibouti also has a simmering border conflict with Eritrea in the Ras
Doumeira region on the Red Sea coast. Nine members of the AND were killed
when fighting broke out with Eritrean forces in June, 2008.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----