14/02/06 (B337-A) Histoire chronologique de Djibouti (BBC en Anglais) – Article signalé par un lecteur.

Timeline: Djibouti – a chronology of key events:

825 – Islam introduced to the area.

French rules

1862 – France acquires the port of Obock.

1892 – Djibouti becomes capital of French Somaliland.

1897 – Ethiopia acquires parts of Djibouti after signing a treaty with France.

1917 – Railway connecting the port of Djibouti with the Ethiopian hinterland reaches Addis Ababa.

1946 – Djibouti made an overseas territory within the French Union with its own legislature and representation in the French parliament.

1958 – Djibouti votes to join the French Community.

Independence

1967 – Referendum takes place during which Afar people and Europeans vote to remain part of the French Community; French Somaliland renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas.

1977 – The French Territory of the Afars and the Issas becomes independent as Djibouti with Hassan Gouled Aptidon as president.

1979 – People’s Progress Assembly party set up with a view to uniting the Afar and Issa peoples.

1981 – Djibouti becomes a one-party state with the People’s Progress Assembly as the sole party.

1992 – A constitution allowing for a limited multiparty system adopted; fighting erupts between government troops and the Afar Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD) in the northeast of the country.

Power-sharing agreement

1994 – The government and the main faction of FRUD sign a power-sharing agreement officially ending the civil war; the radical faction of FRUD continues to fight.

1999 – President Aptidon announces that he will not run in the presidential election; Ismael Omar Gelleh elected president.

2000 February – The government and the radical faction of FRUD sign a peace agreement finally putting an end to the civil war.

2000 March – Former Prime Minister and leader of the radical faction of FRUD Ahmed Dini returns to Djibouti after nine years in exile.

2000 December – Coup attempt said to have been masterminded by sacked police chief General Yacin Yabeh Galab fails and Yacin charged with conspiracy and breaching state security.


US Marines in Djibouti: Country occupies a strategic position

2003: War on terror Africa-style

2002 January – German warships and 1,000 sailors arrive in Djibouti to patrol shipping lanes in Red Sea area, in support of US actions in Afghanistan.

2002 September – 1992 law allowing only three other parties to compete with ruling party expires, paving way for full multi-party politics.

2002 September – Djibouti says it won’t be used as a base for attacks against another country in the region. Some 900 US troops set up camp in support of US-led war on terror.

2003 January – Coalition supporting President Ismael Omar Gelleh – the Union for Presidential Majority – wins Djibouti’s first free multi-party elections since independence in 1977.

2003 September – Government begins drive to detain and expel illegal immigrants, thought to make up 15% of population.

2004 April – At least 50 people die in flooding in the capital.

2005 April – Presidential elections: Incumbent President Guelleh is the sole candidate.