irst
multi-party presidential elections resulted in the election of
Ismail Omar GUELLEH; he was re-elected to a second and final term in
2005. Djibouti occupies a strategic geographic location at the mouth
of the Red Sea and serves as an important transshipment location for
goods entering and leaving the east African highlands. The present
leadership favors close ties to France, which maintains a
significant military presence in the country, but is also developing
stronger ties with the US. Djibouti hosts the only US military base
in sub-Saharan Africa and is a front-line state in the global war on
terrorism.

Geography Djibouti

Location:
Eastern Africa, bordering the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, between
Eritrea and Somalia

Geographic coordinates:
11 30 N, 43 00 E

Map references:
Africa

Area:
total: 23,000 sq km
land: 22,980 sq km
water: 20 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than Massachusetts

Land boundaries:
total: 516 km
border countries: Eritrea 109 km, Ethiopia 349 km, Somalia 58 km

Coastline:
314 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
desert; torrid, dry

Terrain:
coastal plain and plateau separated by central mountains

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Lac Assal -155 m
highest point: Moussa Ali 2,028 m

Natural resources:
geothermal areas, gold, clay, granite, limestone, marble, salt,
diatomite, gypsum, pumice, petroleum

Land use:
arable land: 0.04%
permanent crops: 0%
other: 99.96% (2005)

Irrigated land:
10 sq km (2003)

Natural hazards:
earthquakes; droughts; occasional cyclonic disturbances from the
Indian Ocean bring heavy rains and flash floods

Environment - current issues:
inadequate supplies of potable water; limited arable land;
desertification; endangered species

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law
of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
strategic location near world's busiest shipping lanes and close to
Arabian oilfields; terminus of rail traffic into Ethiopia; mostly
wasteland; Lac Assal (Lake Assal) is the lowest point in Africa

People Djibouti