5th of June

Another wonderful breakfast at the addis sheraton and we are off to the airport. It is amazing how much construction is going on; addis ababa is waking up.

Formalities at the airport are done in no time, to get to the airplane is a bit complicated. But we are in the air pretty quickly and fly at 19k‘000 feet to the coast. Air traffic at djibouti is heavy and for the first time we have to circle. The pilots do a good job and we get a first impression of djibouti at the airport: military planes from everywhere all over the place! This is the base for the military operations over somalia. There is a very large french presence, but also the germans, spanish, americans, swedes are here.

After a long and hot waiting on the tarmac, we finally pass immigration and go to the eritrean embassy. Maybe we can get a visa today; but it is closed. So the decision is clear: we stay an extra day here and hang out at the beach. We need a break anyway and getting a visa tomorrow and fly via aden to asmara is too much a hassle.

The kempinski hotel here is actually not too bad. But there is a strange crowd here: all military from all over the world. One can recognize them even at the pool: short cut hair, some tattoos, same sunglasses, etc. But even at the pool it is too hot! So back to the room and try to update the web page. Hopefully it will work from here; and it does. Hallelujah!!

We take a cab and go downtown djibouti for dinner. The cab falls almost apart and downtown djibouti could definitely use some renovation. We wander through it and have dinner in a pizzeria. There are all white army people around us; mostly french. And we realize again how important this place strategically is for the west.

Back in the hotel we for for a nightcap at the roof bar. There is a wedding celebration going on. Obviously local high society. Good local music and everybody is here; from kids all the way to the grandmothers. The women look especially good in their modern dresses but with traditional design. Modern african fashion.

6th of June

Today is the weekend off; pool day. But we are in the routine of waking up around 06.30h so everybody shows up relatively early for breakfast. We get our reading material and head for the cooling water. It is still hot outside; never below 30 degrees around that time of the year.

Later in the afternoon, more young military guys show up, easily recognizable by their short haircut and their well trained bodies; not a gram of fat. Many languages spoken are american, french russian and spanish. Guess my daughters would have a good time here!

Small in size, big in ambitions, djibouti may be one of the tiniest, youngest and least-known nations in africa. While its larger, more powerful neighbors are embroiled in a never-ending border dispute, djibouti stands out as a haven of stability and neutrality. This sounds like home; but with 23‘000 km2 it is half the size of switzerland.

Around the 1st century ad, djibouti made up part of the powerful kingdom of aksum. Around 825 ad, islam was introduced by arab traders . In the second half of the 19th century, european powers competed to grab new colonies in africa. The french, seeking to counter the british presence in yemen on the other side of the bab al-mandab strait, made agreements with the afar sultans that gave them the right to settle.

As early as 1949 there were a number of anti-colonial demonstrations that were led by the issa somalis, who were in favor of the reunification of the territories of italian, british and french somalialand. Meanwhile, the afars were in favor of continued french rule. Major riots ensued, especially after the 1967 referendum which produced a vote in favor of continued french rule. The name was changed from french somalialand to the french territory of the afars and issas. On june 1977, the colony finally won its sovereignty from france and became the republic of djibouti.

When the gulf war broke out in 1990, the country‘s president, while appearing to oppose the military build-up in the gulf, simultaneously allowed france to increase its military presence, as well as granting the americans and italians access to the naval port. And he skillfully managed to retain the support of saudi arabia and kuwait for the modernization of djibouti ports. During the war between eritrea and ethiopia in the 1990s, djibouti port proved to be strategic when ethiopia diverted its foreign trade through it (which it still does). During the second gulf war in 2003, it continued to play an ambivalent role, allowing a us presence in the country – to the great displeasure of france.

The relaxing day is finished of with dinner at the italian restaurant in the hotel. Tomorrow we will leave east africa and enter north africa again.

The geographical position of the country, sandwiched between three stronger nations, and its strategic value as a port, is as important as ever. Djibouti continues to play the french and the american cards simultaneously, while maintaining good relations with ethiopia, eritrea and somaliland.