Djibouti: Guelleh takes oath of office for a 5th term

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Djibouti: Guelleh takes oath of office for a 5th term

DJIBOUTI (HORN OBSERVER) - Djibouti President Ismael Omar Guelleh has today officially taken up his office after taking oath at inauguration ceremony held in the country's capital in witness of dozens of leaders from region and other parts of wo

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DJIBOUTI (HORN OBSERVER) - Djibouti President Ismael Omar Guelleh has today officially taken up his office after taking oath at inauguration ceremony held in the country's capital in witness of dozens of leaders from region and other parts of world.

Leaders from Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda have attended the ceremony. Western powers, China, India and Gulf countries have also sent their representatives.

Last April, Guelleh, 73 was re-elected with 98.58 % of the vote, defeating Zakaria Ismail, an independent and a newcomer candidate, earning him a fifth term, citing provisional results.

Guelleh is ruling the nation since 1999.

Djibouti is a largely desert country strategically situated on one of the world’s busiest trade routes and at the crossroads between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, a short distance from war-torn Yemen.

Djibouti is a key staging ground for both the United States, which uses Camp Lemmonier on the outskirts of Djibouti’s capital as an operating base for 4,000 US and allied personnel, France and China, which chose the country to host its first overseas military installation in 2017.

From a US perspective, Djibouti is ideally located for conducting missions in the Middle East and East Africa; for Beijing, a military presence in Djibouti helps secure its substantial East African investments.