Africa Up Close

Ismail Omar Guelleh, president of Djibouti, in Somalia with Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Guelleh coasted to a fourth term this weekend in the tiny East African nation. Photo by Ahmed Qeys / AMISOM Photo, via Flickr. Creative Commons.

On April 8th, Djibouti’s Ismail Omar Guelleh extended his 17-year presidency for another five years after securing 87 percent of the vote. This will be the president’s fourth term leading the country, a feat made possible by a change he made to the constitution in 2010 that unraveled previous efforts to set a two-term limit for Djibouti’s leaders.

Wedged between Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and a narrow strip of ocean that supports over a quarter of the world’s international shipping, the government of this tiny state, which is home to around a million people, wants Djibouti to be more than just a focal point in globalized trade networks.

A Burundian soldier serving in AMISOM guards a position at the edge of Mogadishu, Somalia. Photo by Stuart Price/UN Photo, Creative Commons, via Flickr.

When Burundi’s peacekeepers joined the ranks of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) in December 2007, it signaled that the conclusion of the country’s civil war in 2005 had marked the beginning of a post-conflict identity—one that would see Burundi rapidly integrate formerly warring groups into a newly configured military and define itself as an essential contributor to peace and security on the African continent. Today, that identity is under strain, and the country’s 5,400 peacekeepers, which make up “over a quarter of AMISOM’s force,” face an uncertain future.

Photo Courtesy of https://www.prc.cm/en/news/1383-concerted-action-to-eradicate-boko-haram.

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Burhari concludes his first presidential visit to Cameroon today, where he has been discussing how to build a “strong regional alliance to confront Boko Haram” with Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya. With Multi National Joint Task Force troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin still preparing to work together as a regional force, Boko Haram attacking civilians throughout the region, and enduring diplomatic tensions between Nigeria and Cameroon, President Buhari’s visit with Paul Biya is one of the most critical diplomatic engagements in Africa this year.

During a visit to Chad on June 4^th, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari emphasized that when it comes to security, Chad and Nigeria are “intricately linked”. With last week’s attack on N’Djamena, the regional dynamics of the Boko Haram insurgency have been brought into graphic relief. While Boko Haram has not claimed responsibility for the violence, the group will definitely be where Chad’s embattled leadership targets its outrage – with the assistance of international security partners, including the United States.

The Young Professionals in Foreign Policy Africa Discussion Group recently worked to unravel some of the knots in the details of Nigeria’s postponed elections, which the Jonathan Administration has delayed for six weeks.The decision to put Nigeria’s democratic process on ice is officially attributed to security concerns. In the context of Boko Haram’s insurgency in Nigeria’s north, voter disenfranchisement and violence are undoubtedly real threats. Yet the tenuous nature of the claim that a six-week delay can make an impact on a six-year insurgency has lead many observers to reframe the shift as something more cynical, and more anti-democratic.

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