Country: Djibouti

Capital: Djibouti

Population: 774,389 (July 2012 est.)

Ethnic groups: Somali 60%, Afar 35%, other 5% (includes French, Arab, Ethiopian, and Italian)

Languages: French (official), Arabic (official), Somali, Afar

Religions: Muslim 94%, Christian 6%.

Through close contacts with the Arabian peninsula for more than one-thousand years, the Somali and Afar ethnic groups in this region became among the first on the African continent to adopt Islam. Djibouti was part of Ottoman Empire in Habesh province between 1855-1884.

3.2% of the population are Orthodox. 0.07% to 1% of the population (about 4,767 persons) are Protestants. Red Sea Mission Team and The Mennonite Mission are active in Djibouti. Protestant Church of Djibouti is active in the care for refugees, among other things. There is a Djibouti Parish of the New Apostolic Church. There are around 7,000 Catholics in Djibouti.

Government: Republic

Branches: Executive. Chief of state: President Ismail Omar GUELLEH (since 8 May 1999)

Head of government: Prime Minister Mohamed Dileita DILEITA (since 4 March 2001)

Cabinet: Council of Ministers responsible to the president.

Legislative: unicameral Chamber of Deputies or Chambre des Deputies (65 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms);

Living conditions: Infant mortality: 53.31 deaths/1,000 live births: life expectancy 61.57 years: Literacy: 67.9% Unemployment in urban areas is around 50% and 84% in rural areas. There is very little arable land and most food has to be imported. Two years of failed rains have left the scarce pastoral land in poor condition, along with livestock, and good rains so far this season cannot bring a full recovery. Food security remains in stress. Absolute poverty is at 40 percent. There are still many refugees from Somalia in the country.

History: Djibouti was part of an empire stretching around the Horn of Africa from some 2500BC. The French interest started with an exploration in 1839 and continued until independence in 1977. During the latter part of this time it Djibouti was known as French Somalia. There were two referenda held to seek opinion on joining with Somalia in 1960 and 1967 when the majority Afar population voted to continue with France but this was reversed in a third referendum in 1977 when independence was granted. A civil war raged from 1991 to 2001 between the ethnic Afar and Somali populations.

Pray for:

Persons of peace to provide an entry for CPM.
The Lord of the Harvest to raise up workers who will labour for the Kingdom in a nation of poverty, frequent food shortage and a large Islamic majority.