AFRICA TWELFTH STOP NIGER

NIGER

AFRICA

BACKGROUND :

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass.   Occupying this massive  and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.


NIGER

The Republic of Niger is yet another land-locked African country. It is bordered to the North by Algeria and Libya, to the  East by Chad, to the South East by Lake Chad and to the South by Nigeria and Benin and to the South West by Burkina Faso and to the West by Mali.

Niger is the 22nd largest country in the World, being about 1/6th the size of Australia.It is the 60th most populous country in the World with 19.26 million people( Australia 52nd with 23.8 millions).

The great FACT about Niger is that 80% of its land area is part of the Sahara Desert. The population is therefore concentrated in the South.The people are predominantly Mohammedan.Niger ranks 187th in the United Nations " Human Development Index", it is thus shown to be an underdeveloped nation.

The country's history since it won independence from France in 1958 has been turbulent and it is now into its 7th Republic that history includes 4 Military Regimes.

The economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture . However, there are limited exports to surrounding countries - such foreign exchange earnings as there are come from food and cattle - all unprocessed, save for some hides and skins and handicrafts.There are also mining and oil exports.The former have prominently featured uranium exports. A little more than one fifth of the roads in the country are paved. 574 Kilometres of railway are being built to connect the capital Niamey to Parakou in neighbouring Benin is due to be completed by 2016.

The history of Niger's territory is long and varied, with human habitation dating back to 5,000 B.C. But it was the period around 500 B.C. before substantial activity can be identified, and this seems related to the trans Saharan trade routes. This also led to the introduction of the Mohammedan religion. From A.D. 600 to 1591 the Songhai Empire ruled and this became Mohammedan after the Mohammedan wars of expansion began around A.D. 700. From the mid 14th Century the Songhai were displaced by the various Mohammedan Hausa Kingdoms which multiplied throughout  the region.

In this period also there were intrusions by the Mali Empire and the Kanem - Bornu Empire.

Following the notorious 1885 Berlin Conference in which the European Powers decided on how Africa should be carved up for the purposes of colonisation, the French set-up what became known as the Voulet - Chanoine Mission to explore the possibilities in the Chad Basin and to unify all French territories in West Africa. It set out from Senegal in 1898. Nine Europeans led the Mission which was composed of an aggregation of some 1,300 men - 800 of whom were porters. The two leading men, Voulet and Chanoine were , to say the least of an unstable psychological make-up (the term psychopaths has been used by a  British historian). In fact it seems that they were callous and even blood-thirsty. armed with artillery, machine guns , hundreds of rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition, and led by such characters the worst could be expected. They came to reject orders from Paris and proceeded in a scandalous manner. The expedition was adversely effected by scarcity of supplies in the region and an outbreak of dysentery which soon killed 148 of the porters. Voulet's troops proceeded pillaging, raping, looting and killing.On 8th January, 1899 they attacked a village and killed 101 people including 30 women and children - to set an example for the region, after a couple of his soldiers were wounded in a fray! In May the same year in a similar reprisal he led his men in the massacre of another village in which it seems thousands were killed - on account of the earlier killing of 4 of his soldiers.

Some months before one of Voulet's Officers had resigned - disgusted at the slaughtering , he returned to Franc and wrote a detailed account of the first massacre which via his fiancee got into the hands of the Government Minister responsible. He promptly ordered the Governor of Timbuktu , Governor Klobb, to take control and arrest Voulet. Klobb set out with 50 troops and a French Officer.  

After travelling 2,000 Kms in pursuit of the villains, Klobb received reports he was very close to them and sent ahead A Sergeant and two soldiers demanding Voulet's immediate return to Paris, In his reply Voulet reminded Klobb that he had 600 guns against Klobb's 50 and declined to obey. He and Chanoine were careful to keep Klobb's letter from the other French Officers. He kept on raiding and on July 13 after a villager killed one of his men, he massacred 150 women and children at another village. He sent a second letter to Klobb warning him to come no closer.

Klobb came on. Voulet ordered his own men to fall back so that they would not know the true nature of Klobb's mission. Klobb proceeded boldly on his own , whilst wearing his Legion d'Honneur  - Voulet insisted he stop, but Klobb ordered those with Voulet to be loyal to their duty. Voulet ordered them to fire a warning volley in the air , but as Klobb kept coming he ordered him to be shot. He fell dead after having ordered his troops not to return fire. They in fact fled.

Voulet and Chanoine tried to rally their men in the coming days , to help them set up their own "kingdom" abandoning French association altogether. Within a few days both were dead at the hands of the troops. In due course, under other officers, despite much strife, order was restored and the original mission was completed in a civilised manner( as much as that can be said for dispossessing people of their independence and property.) 

Ultimately it was decided by the Ministry of Colonies in Paris that the outrages committed under the direction of Voulet and Chanoine were due to a "Sudanese sickness and the dreadful heat sending the two mad."


 

AFRICA ELEVENTH STOP CHAD

CHAD

AFRICA

BACKGROUND :

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass.   Occupying this massive  and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.


CHAD

The Republic of Chad is yet another landlocked country. It is bordered by Libya to the North,Sudan to the East, the Central African Republic to the South , Cameroon and Nigeria to the South West and Niger to the West. Chad is the fifth largest country in Africa and the 21st largest in the world. With a population of 13,606,000 it is the 71st most populous country in the world. Chad ranks second to South Sudan in Maternal Mortality with 1,100 deaths per 100,000 Live Births.(Remember Australia has ...5!) Chad has 91.94 infant deaths per 100,000 Live Births ( Remember Australia has ...4.49 !) Average life expectancy at birth is 51 yrs the 182nd highest rank in the world ( Remember Australia is 83 yrs the 9th highest in the world Japan is No.1 at 87 yrs.)

The country is religiously diverse with 55% Mohammedans of three different groups, 22% Catholics, 18% Protestant and 5% Animist & other.

There are 200 identified ethnic groups.Most people are said to be more aware of their regional grouping than of National identity. In the North of the country the people are mainly  Toubous nomads, in the South the main national ethnic group the Sara live stable lives side by side with nomads such as Arabs.

Official business is conducted in French or Arabic, but over 100 languages are in use in the country.

The legal system is based on French Civil Law and Local customary law as long as that does not conflict with modern concepts of justice and equity.

With a literacy rate of only 33%, Chad has one of the lowest literacy rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. Interestingly in 2010, it was recorded that 24.3 % of the population had mobile phones. 

The Southern third of the country , the Sudanic zone, is rich in wildlife and plant life. All the major species of African wildlife are to be found here and elephant poaching has been a major problem.
 
It is thought that significant human population in Northern Chad dates back as far as 7,000 B.C. - this may be a tad romantic.  However there exist in Chad some of the more significant African archaeological sites.  These date back to around 2,000 B.C. For more than 2,000 years the area has supported stable agricultural populations . However for more than 700 years the Kanem Empire reaching from parts of Libya through much of Chad and into Nigeria and Cameroon was dominant in the region.It overcame the well-established and developed Sao civilisation which had grown up in the Lake Chad region since around 700 B.C. Kanem had strongly developed the slave trade by raiding the Southern grasslands, not only to satisfy their Mohammedan trading partners to the North but also for themselves. The Kanem population was around 30% enslaved.

The Kanem Empire thus controlled the trade routes across the Sahara into central Africa. But along with material goods, there came in due course, the Mohammedan religion, which took over Kanem. But over the centuries its influence produced the same in-fighting and dynastic struggles that were characteristic of the Mohammedan world. By the end of the 14th Century Kanem had effectively fallen apart.

By 1900 Chad had become a fully integrated colony of France. By 1920 it was known as French Equatorial Africa. But French administration of the colony did not even match standards of modernity the French were achieving in other colonies. The principal production was originally raw cotton and in 1929 this was very much expanded.

After WW II the colony was granted independence in 1960. A government of Southern Sara people was elected. But in 1965 the Mohammedan Northerners asserted themselves, starting a civil war. The Government collapsed in 1979 and the Mohammedans continued to fight the civil war among their own factions. Libya sought to supplant French influence in Chad, but this adventure ended in disaster when a French backed President rallied the Chad population in a manner no-one had done before and the Libyans were driven off in a humiliating retreat. This President -Habre - established a harsh dictatorship, allegedly killing thousands and advantaging his own Daza ethnic group. He was overthrown by his deputy  Idriss Deby in 1990. He has ruled the country since then. Despite repeated attempted coups , his " Patriotic Salvation Movement" remains securely in power. The country is reputedly one of the poorest and most corrupt in the world. Since 2003 crude oil has been the country's principal source of export earnings, overtaking the traditional cotton trade.


France has continued to exercise a significant influence in Chad, partly because the approx. 1,000 soldiers she stationed there repeatedly help to support the President against the Government's enemies. However this influence was not sufficient to stop Chad giving oil rights to the American EXXON corporation in 1999 - a decision bitterly resented by the French.

AFRICA TENTH STOP SUDAN

SUDAN

BACKGROUND :

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass.   Occupying this massive  and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.

SUDAN

The very location of the former Sudan suggests trouble : there can be few countries with such volatile borders - to the North West Libya, to the North Egypt to the East, the Red Sea, Eritrea and Ethiopia, to the South Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo,to the South West the Central African Republic and to the West Chad! But as if having nine counties often in turmoil on her borders were not enough trouble, Sudan herself has been ravaged by civil war for nearly 50 years and has only in more recent times been divided into two countries Sudan and South Sudan at a democratic referendum.

Sudan

Sudan proper , that is the Northern half, is the 16th largest country in the world and has a population estimated at 37.29 millions - the 35th largest in the world. 97% of the population is Mohammedan and the remainder is Coptic, Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant. The official languages are Arabic and English.

Membership of the United Nations, the African Union ,the Arab League and the Non-Aligned Movement and observer status at the World Trade Organisation  make the country seem quite normal. However Membership of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, the fact that the legal system is based on Islamic Law , a poor Human Rights record especially regarding ethnic cleansing and slavery (!) reveal a darker picture.

The Capital is Khartoum, which conjures up British colonial images of    "Chinese" Gordon and his death fighting the forces of the Mahdi. This fighting was inspired by the Mahdi's opposition to European efforts to wipe out slavery.                                                                                                                                         Sudan claims much older origins, going back to the Nubians and Upper Egypt of around 3,000 B.C. Sudan was a Christian country by A.D. 600 but as the newly-invented Mohammedan project grew more and more bloodily aggressive, it became Mohammedan by A.D. 700. In 1821, after centuries of various forms of primitive rule, Sudan was to fall under the control of Egypt. The Egyptian control was administratively heavy and there was continuing intermittent resistance.They introduced systematic Mohammedan religious instruction and built numerous mosques. The main trade in Sudan was slavery and this was entirely to the Egyptians' satisfaction.But under European pressure it was gradually suppressed in the 1860s. In 1899 England and Egypt reached an agreement which effectively made Sudan a British Colony with a Governor General appointed by Egypt subject to British consent.The British systematically sought to frustrate any union of Sudan and Egypt.

In World War II Sudanese forces served with the British in a variety of campaigns in North Africa . British policy was to run Sudan via a Northern Mohammedan region and a  Southern Christian region.In 1956, after a polling process, the British and Egyptians both gave up their claims to sovereignty and Sudan became independent. However in 1969 there was a military coup and the Parliament and political parties were abolished. But in 1971 Communist elements in the Army led a further coup - but this lasted only days before an anti-Communist group in the Army displaced them. From then for about 10 years, there was a virtual hiatus in the North vs South civil war.

In 1989 Mohammedan elements in the Army led another coup, suspending political parties and introducing an Islamic Legal Code. There was a purge and executions of opposing military leaders and banning of independent newspapers and jailing of leading political figures and journalists.The next years were turbulent with Mohammedan fundamentalism on the rise.War broke out along the 1,000km border with Chad between 2005 and 2007.The hostilities in the Darfur area were so intense as to make the hitherto obscure name a major news item around the world. 2.8 Million civilians were displaced and 300,000 people were said to have been killed in the course of the trouble.

The latest stage in the country's evolution was the division establishing South Sudan.

SOUTH SUDAN


The Republic of South Sudan was established in 2011 when its separation from Sudan was achieved following a referendum. The country has an estimated population of 8,000,000 which would make it the 94th largest country in the world. It has an area ranking 42nd largest in the world. Since independence a bloody civil war has broken out between ethnic Dinka and Nuer peoples. President Kiir's Dinka people have the support of Government forces which have also been aided by Ugandan troops. It is said that up to 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting, 1,000,000 displaced and 400,000 have fled as refugees to neighbouring countries.There have been moves toward a federal structure to try to heal the troubles.

The official language of South Sudan is English.

Like so many other aspects of South Sudanese life it seems, the religion of the people is a subject difficult to determine for certain. Broadly speaking the religions followed seem to be indigenous " animist", Christian, and Mohammedan. The variation in claimed percentages of each is verging on the insane. Some U.S. Government sources say that Christianity is only 10% (Library of Congress) others   a substantial minority (State Dept.)  While the Pew Research Center says 60.5 % are Christians, 32.9 % Animist and 6.2 % Mohammedan. The World Christian Encyclopedia says there are 2,700,000 Catholics which is 33% of the population.

South Sudan has placed heavy reliance on oil exports, developed with Chinese assistance, to fund up to 98% of its budget. The oil has to traverse a pipeline through Sudan and this has caused disagreements over costs of pipeline use.The IMF is anxious over the decline in reserves which are expected to halve by 2020.


More than half the population does not have access to improved water supply. Health indicators are seriously adverse with the highest maternal mortality rate in the world : 2,053.9 per 100,000 live births.The equivalent figure in Australia is.....5 per 100,000... 5! Infant mortality is 69.97 per 1,000 well below the world's worst (Mali at 106.9). In Australia the figure is 4.49.

 SUMMARY

I started off this Africa project as a matter of self -education: to make good deficiencies in my knowledge of the vast Continent and its many countries, and, to write about what I find in as entertaining and interesting  a way as I can.

But I have to admit that the knowledge that I am gaining is undermining, and disturbing the enjoyment I had expected from the exercise. The troubles of the Sudans are appalling and, in an exercise like this, it is impossible to come to grips with the peoples involved to any meaningful degree, especially when even usually reliable sources contradict one another over simple facts that elsewhere would be indisputable. As for any thought of making what I write entertaining , that would be obscene in this case - like an "entertaining" account of an air crash.

To tell the truth, I feel guilty for leading the comfortable life that I do whilst contemplating the wretchedness of the Sudanese people. Yet, at 75 years of age and living on an Aged Pension, the only practical thing I can do is to write and help bring their plight to notice.




 

AFRICA NINTH STOP ETHIOPIA (ABYSSINIA THAT WAS)

BACKGROUND :

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass.   Occupying this massive  and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.


ETHIOPIA

Ethiopia, it is probably fair to say, conjures up in the Western mind two images - its former Emperor Hailie Selassie ( probably filed mentally rightly or wrongly under the category "good thing") and the Evelyn Waugh book "WAUGH IN AFRICA" ( similarly filed under the heading "comic writing" or alternatively "No longer PC").

Landlocked Ethiopia is bordered to the North by Eritrea, to the East by Somalia, to the South by Kenya and to the West by Sudan. It is populated 88% by 11 tribes and a wide mixture comprises the remaining 12 %. With an estimated population of 90,000,000 it is the 14th most populous country in the world and the second most populous in Africa. It is the 27th largest country in the world in area and the 10th largest country in Africa.

However, Ethiopia is only the 122nd ranked world exporting country, but it is the 96th largest importing country in the world.(Interestingly, my own country Australia ranks 20th on both Imports and Exports lists - not bad for the 52nd Ranked country by population.)

Considering those statistics, I am amazed that I have so rarely given Ethiopia any thought at all.

Said to have historical roots back to the second millenium B.C., Ethiopia has, for most of the time been a monarchy. In the early centuries A.D. it was part of the Kingdom of Aksum. In more recent times it successfully resisted the European powers' scramble for colonial territory in Africa.
Even in the 1880s she succeeded in defeating Italy's attempts to conquer her. However the claims of the Ethiopian Emperor that he was the heir of a 3,000 years old dynasty were fanciful.

Between 1936 and 1941, Fascist Italy at length succeeded in occupying the country. British Empire forces then joined Ethiopian forces in driving out the Italians in a campaign that degenerated into guerilla war until 1943 when the Italians were finally beaten.In 1944 the British at last recognised Ethiopian sovereignty and this recognition was cemented in the Treaty signed in December, 1944. Since 1995 the country has been a federated Republic.Prior to that , and after the death of Hailie Selassie ,the country was ruled by a Communist Russian backed Military Dictatorship called the Derg.

The Ethiopian territory is a high plateau with a central mountain range divided by the Great Rift Valley. The highest point is Ras Dejen at 4,533 metres. 15% of the land is arable Permanent crops take up only 1.14% of the land.The Great Rift Valley is geologically active with occasional earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and drought.The Blue Nile rises in Lake Tana in the country's Northwest. It is believed that the coffee bean, grain sorghum and the castor bean are native to Ethiopia.

A slight majority of the population is Christian , mostly members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. One third of the population is Sunni Mohammedan.

AFRICA EIGHTH STOP ERITREA

          




BACKGROUND :

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass.   Occupying this massive  and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.

HUMBLE CONFESSION :

As you will have noticed, I have paused in my "discovery" research of Africa and , far from doing one country per week, I have not done one country in the last 7 weeks : Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa! I can only plead the lead up to my 75th Birthday which became pre-occupying one way and another, and of course Holy Week and Easter. So now I have to catch up, and at different times I will be doing 2 countries per week.  
 

ERITREA 

Bordered by Djibouti , which we last "visited" , in the South East, by Ethiopia in the South, by Sudan in the West and in the North East and East by the Red Sea, Eritrea has as its capital the city of Asmara which is located inland approximately in the middle of the country opposite the Port city of Massawa.

It is the 101st largest country in the World and the 34th largest in Africa. By population, it is the 106th largest country in the world and the 33rd largest country in Africa.

Wth some 6,000,000 inhabitants, of nine recognised ethnic groups, Eritrea has a policy of recognising only four "official" religious groups : the Eritrean Orthodox, Catholics, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea and Sunni Mohammedans. Adherents of other religions risk arrest! Whilst the Government claims the country is 50% Christian and 50% Sunni Mohammedan, there are suggestions by an NGO that the true situation is 63% Christian and 37% Mohammedan. The same body claims that 57% of the population is Orthodox, 4% Catholic and 1-2 % is Protestant including Evangelical Lutherans and all others. the Mohammedans are concentrated in the Eastern and Western lowlands , whilst the Christians mainly occupy the central highlands. It is estimated that 1,500 adherents of non-"official" religions are held in prison.

History tells us that there are records of civilisation here dating back to around 980 B.C.and even further for it believed to have formed part o what the ancient Egyptians termed the land of Punt. In the first or second century A.D. present day Eritrea was the ancient Kingdom of Aksum. In about A.D.600 just as Mohammedanism was being founded and beginning its wars of conquest, the Kingdom became Christian. In medieval times different Mohammedan Empires controlled parts of Eritrea. The following centuries were subject to the tedious Mohammedan internal strife fragmenting the area until the Turkish Ottoman Empire gained sway only to collapse  in the last Century .In 1947 Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia, but after a few years Ethiopia absorbed Eritrea, which did not regain its independence until Eritreans fought a war of independence ending in a referendum in 1993. Although this was won by the independence voters, the war continued against Ethiopia until 1998 -2000.Along the way skirmishes had taken place with Djibouti.

The economy is not huge at US 5 Billions per annum made up of 11.7% Agriculture, 26.9% Industry and 61.4 % Services.  The labour force of 3,000,000 is devoted to Agriculture 80% and Industry and Services 20 %.

The country is rated among those in which it is most difficult to do business, and this is not surprising give the authoritarian streak shown in matters of Religion.

ROYAL EASTER SHOW 2015

Ahhh! Yes!

You can't beat Italian food!

When I see signage like that - good Italian food! I have to eat from there! And Robyn is of the same opinion. Such Panini! Such Prosciutto - magnificent! But first we had some exploring to do!All the usual things - that is what the Show is all about - it's a ritual - and you don't mess with rituals, right? Amen! I hear you say!

So , off to the Roses displayed and we agree that the new site reduced volume of Roses and other flowers is totally inferior to what used to be seen at the old Moore Park Showground. While we were there some judging was in progress and one of the judges had almost as much gold badging hanging off his suit coat as a North Vietnamese Army General (those blokes are really comical!). The on to the Arts and Crafts. Robyn was very good, neatly restraining her Quilt Mania while we patrolled up and down interminable rows of indifferent to appalling Art and Photography - definitely poorer quality than in previous years (though I missed 2014) and on balance even inferior to some years at the Ekka in Brisbane.

The cakes displayed were interesting -if somewhat the worse for wear after a week or more on display . Surprising how many were baked by Men!

Finally we found the Quilts one of the winners was known to Robyn. The standard was I think quite high in most cases - but the display was inferior with most Quilts at least partially folded.

By this time we find our way back to the Panini stand - Papa's Bianco  and head out to the Wood Chopping to watch while we eat.

Logs arrive wrapped in plastic!

These blokes are serious - look at the array of Axes!

We saw only two Axemen with decent physiques - not in any of the photos.

Most axemen seem to rely on  bulk and brawn.

These blokes are in full swing and chips are flying!

The axemen are identified on a State and Country basis - several New Zullanders are there and one American. For the first time in all my years of watching the Wood Chopping , we see one axeman unable to cut into his log very far - and after trying THREE axes he gives up ! Maybe it turned out to be Ironbark ! I don't know.

We return to the Exhibition Halls and come across a NSW Transport stand and this little gem :

A 1938 advertisement featuring a 36 Class Steam Loco hauling an express train on a Mug - must have! But to-day's budget did not allow for it - so I shall have to buy one on the Net in the fullness of time.

Somewhere in the midst of all this we had a peek at the show jumping horses in the main arena , but we caught the very end of the jumps so we did not see much.

Then we headed to the dome pavilion to see the District Agricultural Exhibits. This year being the Centenary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli the exhibits adopted that theme with varying degrees of success. And the winner is - South East Queensland :

Quality produce is used to make up the displays.

First Prize for Display -Trophy and Ribbon.

Quite impressive

And the Second Prize went to the Western Districts of New South Wales - also very well done. 

Also very well done.

 After all this Agricultural and Patriotic excellence, it was time for some more earthy commercialism and so we headed to the Woolworth's "TASTE" Stand and acquired their "special" offer of two Show Bags for $15 . It is the best buy on the Show Ground  - about four of the Thirty or so items -95% useful - covered the total cost. Lots of goodies there.

Then we headed to the Showbag Pavillion proper and made some purchases which are to surprise in another place so I can't say anything about that save that Robyn succumbed to her Licorice addiction and I to my chocolate addiction.(Just one bag!)

By then we were tired out and headed for the train which got us back to Fort Duff in double quick time - tired but happy!

 

AFRICA SEVENTH STOP DJIBOUTI

BACKGROUND :


Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass. Occupying this massive and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.

DJIBOUTI

I confess that until I began researching for this post, I did not know that Djibouti is a country. I had heard the name, but believed it was simply a city , " somewhere in Africa". But that is part of the purpose of this exercise : to educate me about Mother Africa.

Djibouti is a Republic bordered by Eritrea in the North, Somalia in the South East, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in the East and Ethiopia in the South and West. It is small and is the 150th largest country in the World and the 46th largest in Africa ( 2 are smaller). It is the 160th most populous country in the world with a population of 900,000, and the 45th most populous country in Africa.

The people of Djibouti are Somali and Afar by ethnic origin. 94% of the population are Mohammedans. The country's strategic location on the Red Sea and adjacent to the Indian Ocean has guaranteed it a successful maritime role for transhipment and refuelling. It also serves as the principal import/export Port for neighbouring Ethiopia.

The country's territory has been the site of significant settlement since neolithic times.Along with northern Somalia, Eritrea and the Red Sea coast of Sudan , Djibouti is believed to have been part of the Land of Punt as it was known by the ancient Egyptians. Most of the 1,000 years of Mohammedan occupation have reflected tedious internal power struggles.In the late 19th Century the French moved into this shamble , and by a series of treaties gained control, naming the area French Somaliland. In 1958 a referendum voted to stay associated with France - largely because of the votes of the Afar people. A second vote on 1968 chose a somewhat looser association with France.It still did not satisfy the ethnic Somalis who wanted independence such as their brothers across the border in Somalia enjoyed. In 1977 a third vote was taken and a majority of 98.8% supported disengagement from France and independence. In the early 1990s there ws substantial civil unrest, which was only settled by the two major parties agreeing to a power sharing arrangement in 2000.


Economic activity is divided 80% Services Sector, 17% Industry and 3 % Agriculture.  Weather is very hot by Australian standards with AVERAGE high temperatures equalling Sydney Summer highs and record temperatures as high as 47 degrees Celsius for June through to August. Average Low Temperatures are more like Sydney Summer Temperatures and Record Lows are typical Sydney Winter Maximums.

Djibouti is a vest pocket surprise and offers yet another brush stroke in the rich picture that is Africa.