Djibouti has its own armed forces, including a small army, which has grown significantly since the start of the civil war.

In recent years, Djibouti has seen significant improvement in macroeconomic stability, with its annual gross domestic product improving at an average of over 3 percent since 2003.

Inflation has been kept low ( only 1 percent in 2004, compared with 2. 2 percent in 2003 ), due to the fixed peg of the Djibouti franc to the US dollar.

Djibouti ’ s merchandise trade balance has shown a large deficit.

Although Djibouti runs a substantial surplus in its services balance, the surplus has been smaller than the deficit in the merchandise trade balance.

The port of Djibouti functions as a small French naval facility, and the United States also has stationed hundreds of troops in Djibouti, its only African base, in an effort to counter terrorism in the region.

Djibouti has 100 km of metre-gauge railway.

Djibouti has fought in clashes against Eritrea over the Ras Doumeira peninsula, which both countries claim to be under their sovereignty.

While Djibouti ’ s President Ismail Omar Guelleh has close ties with Ethiopia ’ s ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front ( EPRDF ), he has tried to maintain an even hand, developing relations with Eritrea.

Djibouti has been the host country for French military units since independence.

Somalia has in the past claimed the areas of Djibouti inhabited by Somalis as part of the Greater Somalia idea.

Djibouti has allowed the U. S. military, as well as other nations, access to its port and airport facilities.

The southern part of the Red Sea coast, along with the Red Sea coast of Djibouti, has been described as the Eritrean coastal desert, a harsh sand and gravel coastal strip covered in dune grasses and shrubs that is important as a channel for the mass migration of birds of prey.

Eritrea also has very tense relations with all of its neighbors: Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, Somalia and Djibouti.

Ethiopia is landlocked and was by agreement with Eritrea using the ports of Asseb and Massawa ; since the Eritrean-Ethiopian War, Ethiopia has used the port of Djibouti for nearly all of its imports.

CJTF-HOA has devoted the majority of its efforts to train selected armed forces units of the countries of Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency tactics.

The UNCCD has 194 country Parties: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, the People's Republic of China, Colombia, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d ' Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, European Union, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, the Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, South Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Federated States of Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

However, amongst communities in the Horn of Africa ( Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia ) and the Arabian Peninsula, khat chewing has a long history as a social custom dating back thousands of years.

The Arab League currently has 22 members, which also include, Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia and UAE.

The town is home to an airstrip and has ferries to Djibouti City, while mangroves lie nearby.

Having ruled for 18 years, Eritrea's first and only President has been described by critics as a dictator, and the neighboring countries of Ethiopia and Djibouti have accused Afewerki of " exporting chaos " by funding armed insurgent groups within their countries.

From 1991 to 1994, Djibouti experienced a civil war which had devastating effects on the economy.

During this period, 23 African nations experienced war: Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC ), Republic of Congo, Côte d ' Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, and Uganda.

Despite the recent modest and stable growth, Djibouti is faced with many economic challenges, particularly job creation and poverty reduction.

This article is about the demographics of Djibouti, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

" Although over 70 % of Ethiopia's external trade passed through the port at Djibouti between 1911 and 1917, the share of goods passing through Gambela had the fastest rate of growth until the Italian conquest.

The U. S. and Djibouti have forged strong ties in recent years.

File: Operation Enduring Freedom-djibouti2. jpg | U. S. soldiers, and French marine commandos conduct a reconnaissance patrol during a recent joint-combined exercise in Djibouti.

Freedom House considers the recent elections in Djibouti to be " not free ".

" and are planned to be based in Djibouti for 10 years as a relay station for any JSDF deployment in East Africa.

In 2000, after 3 years of insufficient rain, 50, 000 drought victims entered Djibouti.

During the peace years, produce from Bardera farms used to reach as far north to Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden.

The history of Djibouti is recorded in poetry and in songs of its nomadic people and goes back thousands of years to a time when the peoples of Djibouti traded hides and skins for the perfumes and spices of ancient Egypt, India and China.

Following the signing of a reconciliation agreement between his faction and the government in February 2000, Dini returned to Djibouti from Yemen on 29 March 2000, ending nine years of exile.

However, since 2008 the production has increased manifold as a result of the Government of Djibouti Department of Industries initiating action plans, in 2002, to expand the salt extraction process from the Lake Assal by adopting modern mechanical processes so that a crude salt production of 6 million tonnes could be achieved annually, eventually.

The countries with coastlines on the Arabian Sea are Somalia, Djibouti, Yemen, Oman, Iran, Pakistan, India and the Maldives.

Bahamas, Bhutan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Comoros, Djibouti, Dominica, Kiribati, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Niger, Palau, Rwanda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Somalia, Swaziland, Tonga, Tuvalu.

Djibouti is a country located in the Horn of Africa.

Around the 12th century AD, the Sultanate of Ifat was established in Djibouti and northern Somalia, eastern Ethiopia with its capital at Zeila in northern Somalia.

Djibouti was part of Ottoman Empire in Habesh province between 1855-1884.

Place Menelik, Djibouti, c1905.

In 1894, he established a permanent French administration in the city of Djibouti and named the region Côte française des Somalis ( French Somaliland ), a name which continued until 1967.

The city of Djibouti, which had a harbor with good access that attracted trade caravans crossing East Africa, became the new administrative capital.

The Franco-Ethiopian railway, linking Djibouti to the heart of Ethiopia, began in 1897 and reached Addis Ababa in June 1917, increasing the volume of trade passing through the port.

In 1958, on the eve of neighboring Somalia's independence in 1960, a referendum was held in Djibouti to decide whether or not to join the Somali Republic or to remain with France.

In March 2006, Djibouti held its first regional elections and began implementing a decentralization plan.

Due to its strategic location at the mouth of the Bab el Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, Djibouti also hosts various foreign military bases.

Republic of Djibouti is a country in the Horn of Africa.

Djibouti is a multiethnic country.

Djibouti is a multilingual nation.

Colloquially, about 36, 000 local residents speak the Ta ' izzi-Adeni Arabic dialect, also known as Djibouti Arabic.

Politics of Djibouti takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic.

There is 6 administrative regions in Djibouti.

Since the Somalis were one main ethnic group, they could only elect a single candidate and the two main fractions of that tribe in Djibouti, the Issa and the Gadabuursi each strove to win.

Djama Ali whilst walking in Djibouti was attacked by assailants believed to be of the Issas which prompted him to depart for France.

However his hasty return on August 18 sparked off fierce inter-tribal clashes between the Issa and the Gadabuursi, which in turn caused the Gadabuursi to withdraw from Djibouti politics and did not return to the political scene until after Djibouti's independence.

In 1981, Hassan Gouled Aptidon was elected as President of Djibouti.

Ismail Omar Guelleh took the oath of office as the second President of the Republic of Djibouti on May 8, 1999, with the support of an alliance between the RPP and the government-recognized section of the Afar-led FRUD.