What strikes me when I fly in over Djibouti from Ethiopia is how dry the landscape is. Yellow-brown stone desert wherever a few trees sticking up like dry brooms out of the ground and gives the impression of having gone astray. Dried out river channels create scars in the landscape. Djibouti is one of the hottest countries with temperatures around 50 degrees at its warmest. Much of the land is barren and vast areas are deserted, but the small country is important strategically to its location and has become a magnet for foreign militaries.
Djibouti on the Horn of Africa is a former French colony. The surface is only slightly larger than Värmland and the population is just under one million inhabitants. The country is dominated by two ethnic groups, in the south of the Somali clan Issa and Afar in the north which is also in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Although Djibouti is a small and barren country, it has a strategically important location on the Red Sea inlet. It has always been an important import and export port for Ethiopia and has become increasingly important since the Eritrean ports are no longer used by Ethiopia. Gulf of Aden off Djibouti is an important passage for the world's merchant ships. It is estimated that 20 percent of global trade passes through the Gulf of Aden. The revenue from the port in the capital, with the same name as the country, is among the most important for the country's economy. The port of Djibouti to provide samples of different worlds. Merchant ships from around the world crowded with warships from other EU countries and NATO. At the same time is simple African fishing boats moored and livestock may rest on their travels during the protective cap on the quay. Soldiers who work here say it is easier to name the countries which are not visible here than they are in place, because there are so many.
Djibouti, formerly French Somaliland and was France's last colony on the continent. The country became independent as recently as 1977 and is now the fourth internationally recognized government formation in the Horn of Africa. Here lived French nationals on foreign assignments a good life with cheap servants and tropiktillägg. There are still a major French military presence in Djibouti with several military bases, including an air base near the airport in the capital, Djibouti, and a base belonging to Foreign Legion. One day during my visit to the country is one of the largest warships in the harbor, a French aircraft carrier which quantities of military aircraft lined up. It's almost unreal large and indicative of how important France still believes that the military presence is here.
Also, the Americans found their way here during the early 2000s when George Bush's time in power. A few thousand soldiers operating out of Djibouti to fight terrorism on the African continent. Both civilian and military personnel are in place at the only U.S. military base the U.S. has in Africa. The work is among other things, at building partnerships with Muslim countries.
A number of countries from different parts of the world have also Djibouti as a base for the fight against pirates from neighboring Somalia. Since 2008, working several EU countries in the Union's first maritime operation Operation Atalanta on to escort merchant ships and the UN food shipments through the Gulf of Aden, collect intelligence and hunt down pirates. France also has an important role in the operation. Sweden has participated on two occasions. The last unit of the warship HMS Carlskrona returned to Blekinge December 5, 2010 with over a hundred Swedes. 2009 was attended by Sweden with three ships and the defense ministry said it could be considered to participate again later. Also, the U.S., NATO, China, Russia, India and other parties are involved and protect ships in the Indian Ocean and fights pirates.
It is not only foreign military and merchant ships that come here. Djibouti to flee, many people from the war-torn neighboring countries. Many have taken to Djibouti from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Yemen. The concern is that the tide will rise by more unrest in the Horn of Africa, particularly in the collapsed state of Somalia. In a refugee camp run by the UN agency UNDP middle of the stone desert near the border with Somalia are living 14 000 people. And it will be a constant stream of fleeing Somalis there.
East African women from different countries are also working as prostitutes in the capital. They offer services to include African truck drivers and Western militaries. Crime is low in Djibouti and the soldiers I meet describes how it is mostly foreigners who commit crimes here.
While people are fleeing to Djibouti lives many of the indigenous people in difficult circumstances. Drought, poverty and civil war in Djibouti in the 1990s has created a social disadvantage. The revenue from the foreign militaries only looks to get a small percentage of the population benefited and Djibouti have received food aid from abroad. In the hot stone desert country, it is difficult to see how the lonely wandering djibouti I see along the deserted roads are able to live off their goats and the milk the animals provide. Recurrent drought since 2003 has also led many animals died. Many of those who left the countryside has been in slumoråden the outskirts of the capital. Much looks rickety and worn out in Djibouti, but several major roads are nice and well built. The EU has helped with the infrastructure.
While it is difficult to find work for many djibouti paralyzes the chewing of the drug khat much of the country. Today it is one of the most important import goods and a large proportion of household income goes to the green khat leaves. On the beach sleeps poor and drugged people on pieces of cardboard and several times yesterday intoxicated people out into the street in front of the car I drove around with. Khat makes people feel full. The drug is sold openly in street stalls and there are concerns that a ban on khat could create a violent revolution in a desperate population.