According to human rights groups, Djibouti has one of the most abysmal human rights records

By Daniela Kirkby : Analyst in Consultancy Africa Intelligence’s Africa Watch Unit

Djibouti is fast falling toward the status of a failed state, and the recent constitutional amendment does not bode well to the possibility of future improvement.
Indeed, the necessary ingredients for state disintegration and chaos have been put in place.
Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh’s regime is one of the most repressive administrations in sub-Saharan Africa and is surrounded by corruption, mismanagement, money laundering, drug trafficking, human rights abuses and political stagnation

According to human rights groups, Djibouti has one of the most abysmal human rights records. Detention without trial, physical torture and various forms of mistreatment appear to be daily occurrences. The President’s personal security forces are allowed to arrest anyone at will and are allowed to detain their suspects indefinitely and without trial and or due process. Political prisoners are often abused, molested, beaten and assaulted while being held.

In soft democracies such as Djibouti’s, the use of fear is the most powerful tool for Guelleh to harness and maintain further control over the country. When citizens are viewed as potential enemies, it is plausible to argue that the use of coercion to enforce absolute obedience is taking place. External opinions and facts about Guelleh’s regime point to an ever present threat to democracy, even though national reports state otherwise. Guelleh is notorious for stifling voices of dissent, while corruption has degraded the basis for a legitimate political system to operate and paralysed the public will to enforce change.
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