Photo: Credit Associated Press/Jason DeCrow.
President Ismail Omar Guelleh was declared the winner in Friday’s presidential election in Djibouti.
Ismail Omar Guelleh will lead Djibouti for a fifth term staying in power for more than two decades, becoming one of the longest-serving heads of state on the African continent. Djibouti, bordering Somalia in the south and the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in the east, is a small country in the Horn of Africa.
The strategic country houses the US’ biggest military facility on the continent. China, Japan and France — Djibouti’s former colonial power — also have military bases in the country.
There is no independent electoral commission in Djibouti, and the electoral process is overseen by the international community.
According to Opposition groups said Omar Guelleh of obstructing the implementation of an agreement reached between the opposition and the government in 2014 to set up an independent commission tasked with preparing for the elections.
The dictator of the tiny African state Djibouti, Ismail Omar Guelleh regime is accused of human rights abuses, including; poor prison conditions, denial of fair public trial, interference with privacy rights and restrictions on freedoms of the press.