Africanews The end of the recent civil war which opposed the Afars of the northern part of the country to the Issa of the south, does not mark the end of the troubles for this small former French colony. Djibouti is in an unstable political situation. The constitution permits four political parties, but Djibouti remains a de facto one party state, ruled, since independence in 1977, by President Hassan Gouled Aptidon and his People's Rally for Progress (RPP). Of the two opposition parties recognized by the government, only one, the Party for Democratic Renewal (PRD) participated in the December 1992 legislative elections. The National Democratic Party (PND) boycotted them on the ground that there were no safeguards for free and fair elections.
The Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD) - the main organizer of the Afar insurgency which lasted from late 1991 till the beginning of 1994 and was kept under control with a ruthless counter-offensive with little respect for the human rights of the civilians - is still illegal and boycotted the elections.
The FRUD demanded the formation of a transitional government and regional autonomy for the Afars. The Afars, who are numerous in Ethiopia and Eritrea, are the single largest tribe, but the Issa and the other Somali clans of the South (Issak and Gadabursi) outnumber them if taken together. Thus ethnic tension is high in this country which barely reaches a total population of half a million people. The internal feuding in the ruling party, the influence from the former colonial power, France, which still keeps 3,800 military people in Djibouti, and the influence of the powerful neighbor Saudi Arabia which would like to take the place of France as the international "big brother" are all factors adding to political instability. The changing regional situation in the Horn of Africa has accelerated an economic decline that had already started with the closure of the Suez Canal in 1967.
At that time the port of Djibouti was one of the major ship repair yards on the Red Sea, but never regained its former position after the Canal was reopened in 1975. Now the new regime in Addis Ababa and the independence of Eritrea have further diminished the importance of Djibouti port, since Ethiopia, formerly dependent on Djibouti as the only sea outlet, has redirected most of its sea traffic through the Eritrean port of Assab. The other major source of revenue are the French military bases. But even this is shrinking. It is said that the French government wants to cut down further the military personnel, but it is moving cautiously in consideration of the protests of the local government and of the danger posed to the long term economic and geo- political interests of the West by a Saudi Arabia that is only too eager to substitute France. At present adult male unemployment in the capital is around 60 percent. Djibouti's soil is unproductive. There is virtually no industry.
A minority of pastoralists eke out a living from their livestock. The potential of fishing has never been exploited, and the local population does not eat much fish. The dwindling income from the operation of the port and the service and commerce around the French military base account for most of the gross domestic product. In this volatile political and economical situation the Moslem fundamentalists are pressing to gain more influence. Again Saudi Arabia is behind the move. While financing the government budget and development projects, Saudi Arabia ties its help to the construction of mosques or centers of Islamic culture. In Djibouti town the Saudis have built a modern Islamic center with a huge mosque.
The national television is used more and more as a instrument of Islamic propaganda. Pamphlets of Islamic propaganda are distributed outside the schools. Sometime even Tchadors are given out free of charge. "What worries us - says Robert Carton-Dibeth, director of the local Caritas and one of the few local Catholics - is the fact that all this Moslem propaganda has a very fundamentalist direction. The Saudis, who are not fundamentalist at home, do not hesitate to promote fundamentalism abroad, when it suits their political objectives". While Afars and Issas have been Muslim since time immemorial, their Islam has always been tolerant. Catholics and Christians in general have been during this last century a minority, made up of foreigners (French, Ethiopians) and of a tiny local community.
Local Catholics are not more than one hundred, all of them Issas. The Diocese of Djibouti has as a Bishop a French Capuchin, Msgr. Georges Perron, and the whole clergy is composed of five other French Capuchins and an Italian, Fr. Sandro De Pretis, ordained for the diocese two years ago. There is also a handful of brothers and sisters.
Continues Robert Carton-Dibeth: "Islamic fundamentalists are like a silent but powerful tide. I would not be surprised if in the medium term - 3 to 6 years - they would run the country. Right now they are forming many unemployed youth to become marabous. In the Islamic center of Djibouti you can find local youth as well as youth from Somalia, Oromoland and Afarland in Ethiopia. They are hierarchically organized, like military brigades, and they go in groups of five in the different section of the town to proclaim their fundamentalist message.
They could accuse the imam of a mosque to be too soft and tolerant, and have him substituted. Our bishop Msgr. Perron received last year a minatory letter, maybe the work of a extremist not representing anybody else, but this is a clear sign of the changing religious climate. It is not unusual to hear the more fanatic Moslems argue that all foreigners, especially all white people, must leave our country, and that we must become an Islamic State".
The consequence in everyday life is that often the missionaries receive phone calls, sometimes to threaten, but mostly to disturb them. In town they are confronted with signs of hostility or contempt, like stone-throwing, hand gestures and insults, especially from children. It is obvious that the young generations are taught to have this attitude against the white people, who happen to be also the despised Christians.
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