The Civil War: Rebellions, Insurgencies & McCarthyism
First Acts of Violence
Djibouti is now a couple years old when it experiences its first event of ethnic violence against Somalis within the capital city. This was due to political alienation experienced as a result of unequal seating distribution within parliament and internal conflicts. The hostility between the two ethnic groups was palpable within the Djiboutian society, but now it’s an apparent reality that the citizens of the country have to face and resolve.
Djiboutians now aim to construct a new identity based on the principles of a nation state and adopt the slogan “Unité, Égalité, Paix” (Unity, Equality, Peace). But increasing tension and violence paints a different reality. After the attacks in the city, the Afar prime minister would resign citing increased internal conflict within government and tribal repression.
Freedom vs Security?
The Afars subsequently aim to establish their own political party within the country and merge with smaller political groups to form the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Djibouti in 1979 and subsequently the Djibouti People’s Party in 1981. They attempt to organise and run for the next presidential elections in June 1981. However, earlier in that year, the Somali/Issa dominated legislative branch vote to declare the incumbent party formed in 1979, Popular Rally for Progress (PRP), as the only legal political party in the country, thus barring the Afars from politically participating in the presidential elections. This was mainly because of security concerns they had as the result of recent attacks. However, it was also seen as “tribal repression” and a violation of the freedoms of the Afar people and political opponents. The incumbent president would run unopposed and continue on to a second term in 1981.
The next attack on Somalis would be 1987, the legislative election year, during the period leading up the election. This attack would cause 11 deaths, but the elections nonetheless went through with the PRP winning all seats as members run unopposed as plurality is illegal.
Rebellion & Insurgencies
Early 1991 would see the rise of an organised insurgency within the north of the country, the government would quickly squash it and arrest dozens of individuals who were allegedly involved in this operation. Amnesty International would condemn the process of which the Djiboutian government would detain these individuals, citing human rights violations, extrajudicial killings, torture & the bypassing of due process. These events would enflame ethnic tensions further and the outcome was a more organised, radicalised and dedicated Afar rebellion named Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD).
This rebellion would be influenced by the Derg, the Provisional Military Government of Socialist Ethiopia, who overthrew the Ethiopian monarchy and established a Marxist-Leninist, one-party state in Ethiopia. The Derg would sympathise with FRUD’s struggle and supply them with weapons and military-grade equipment in the fight against their political oppression.
Disproportionate Retaliation?
The President would subsequently declare a state of emergency in the country, carry out a military draft of local Somali men and call for military assistance from the French government. The French mediated negotiations between the two groups, however, 10 days later, on the 29th Nov 1991, Djiboutian armed forces would invade and kill approximately 40 civilians within the largest populated Afar neighbourhood in the capital, Arhiba, on the basis of a potential insurgency within the capital. The remaining Afar politicians would resign from parliament in protest of these gross human rights violations.
Djiboutian armed forced and Afar rebels would clash in 1992 in the north of the country where 100s of rebels and troops would lose their lives.
In an attempt to ease tensions, the parliament would legalise multiparty politics and strengthen human right laws. However, despite the move towards power sharing, ethnic Afars would lose trust in the government and boycott the legislative elections of 1992 and the President would go on to be re-elected in the presidential elections of 1993 for a 3rd term against a poorly organised Somali opposition.
The government would continue to attack ethnic Afars in the north & northwest of the country accusing them of being affiliated with the rebels and charging them with treason and conspiracy to overthrow government. The government would be accused of exaggerating the dangers & size of the weakened rebel group and use this as an opportunity to silence the Afars. This would breed distrust between the Afar population and the Somali-dominated government.
This was McCarthyism in action.
The FRUD were now weak and started to disintegrate, a faction would emerge called The New FRUD. They stressed the pacific nature of their approach and aimed to broker a deal with the government. They would form a coalition with the Popular Rally for Progress and win several seats in parliament. The government would continue to intermittently clash with FRUD rebels through until 2000, where the French would facilitate the signing of an official ceasefire between the government and FRUD. They would also form a coalition with the ruling party and be awarded a few seats in parliament.
Human Aftermath
Over this ten-year period of intermittent clashes between government and rebel forces, up to 1000 individuals were killed, and up to 100,000 individuals were displaced. The displaced population were mainly Afar citizens who fled to neighbouring Eritrea & Ethiopia as a result of the “McCarthyian-esq” government strategy to combat the rebels.