Paris, Nairobi, Djibouti, June 8, 2022. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Djiboutian Human Rights League (LDDH) are concerned about the failure to respect the principles of the rule of law, democracy and human rights from the Djibouti regime. The powers that have military bases on the territory of this East African country must do more and better to ensure respect for the fundamental rights of Djiboutians.
In power for 23 years, and while the question of his succession is at stake, President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh continues and intensifies the muzzling of all political opposition.
Opposition political parties threatened or dissolved
Opposition parties face constant threats, when they are not forced to disappear.
This is the case of the Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development (MRD), dissolved in 2008 by presidential decree. Despite the 2020 decision of the United Nations Committee for Human Rights, demanding the cancellation of this decree, the power in place still prevents the re-registration of the party. It thus prevents its members from exercising their political activity freely. In December 2021, in Djibouti-ville, four activists from another opposition party, the Rally for Action, Democracy and Ecological Development (Radde) were roughly arrested by the police in the occasion of a non-violent sit-in in front of the National Assembly. These brutal arrest methods are clearly intended to intimidate those who wish to show their discontent.
Freedoms and restricted elections
The restriction of the rights and freedoms of the political opposition and defenders but also of the entire civilian population is deeply alarming.
Elections, whether presidential or communal, are not free in Djibouti. Boycotted by the population, their turnout was only 3%. This did not prevent the ruling party, the Union for a Presidential Majority (UMP) from congratulating itself on a landslide victory. The latter has indeed won 219 of the 220 seats in Parliament.
Witness to the autocratic drift of the President, the latter, in total violation of the texts in force, proceeded to the appointment of the mayor of the city of Djibouti, flouting the electoral process.
Violence by law enforcement
For nearly a year, this anti-democratic drift has been accompanied by an upsurge in violence committed with complete impunity by the police, documented by the Djiboutian League for Human Rights (LDDH).
At least three people died as a result of the violence, as they expressed their discontent and despair over the shortages.
• Ferouze Mahamoud Abdillahi, a 32-year-old widow and mother of four young children, was killed by military live ammunition in Ali-Sabieh-ville on March 29, 2022, during a food distribution by the Food Program World (Pam) in the enclosure of a Djiboutian army camp.
• Djama Mohamed Ismaïl, known as Charmarké Charmarke, was found dead on March 26, 2022 at the Balbala Cheik Moussa police station, in the working-class suburbs of the Djiboutian capital. His case recalls the death, at the hands of the Djibouti-ville police, of another young man, Gadidche Ladieh Omar, on September 11, 2019.
• Aden Adaweh Abdillahi, a young man in his twenties, died on May 9, 2021 following a police wound by live ammunition, received in the head on June 26, 2020 in Djibouti-ville during a peaceful protest.
Many injuries are also to be deplored:
• Dahir Abdi Ofleh, seriously injured by live ammunition in the stomach on March 18, 2022 in Ali-Sabieh, in the south-east of the country;
• Souleiman Ali Bogoreh, injured by live ammunition in the leg on March 18, 2022 in Ali-Sabieh, in the south-east of the country;
• Farhan Abdi Guelleh, injured by live ammunition in the back on March 18, 2022 in Ali-Sabieh, in the south-east of the country;
• Ismaïl Houssein Waberi, was injured a year earlier, on January 18, 2021 in the same region of Ali-Sabieh, by live ammunition by the police. He still bears the scars of those injuries today.
A climate of fear and arbitrary arrests
The power has created a climate of fear as arbitrary arrests are almost daily. The police and the gendarmerie are continuing campaigns of intimidation against the population. For example, when they were simply asking for water in the street, eight mothers were arrested for a week by the police in the underprivileged district of Buldhuqo, on the outskirts of the Djiboutian capital, while the continued repression, in similar circumstances, of other victims.
The rule of law is constantly violated and many people continue to be detained in Gabode central prison, without having been brought before a judge. This is particularly the case of eight young adults arrested during a peaceful demonstration organized on June 6, 2021 in Ali-Sabieh.
“On several occasions, the Djiboutian League for Human Rights (LDDH) has warned of the case of pilot lieutenant Fouad Youssouf Ali1, in detention in Djibouti for more than a year, victim of a ‘denial of justice’. After an unfair trial which did not respect the rights of the defence, he is now arbitrarily denied the right to visit his family. As his health deteriorates, we continue to denounce his conditions of detention in Gabode prison. »
Me Karim Zakaria, Representative of the LDDH
A justice instrumentalized for political purposes
The instrumentalization of justice by the regime to settle its political scores testifies to the constant attacks on the separation of powers. Indeed, ministers or former ministers, civil servants, or even traders, are targeted by judicial information for embezzlement, or for incitement to recordings of private conversations – that is to say say the sharing on social networks of wiretaps captured by intelligence bodies. The sole objective of these “selective trials” is to set aside individuals who have become undesirable and who would not be in the interests of the head of state, Ismaïl Omar Guelleh.
A worrying situation for human rights
For all of these reasons, FIDH and LDDH warn of the worrying situation of the continued non-respect of human rights, and the non-respect by institutions of the fundamental principles of the rule of law, as defined in the Djiboutian legal instruments.
“Djibouti’s international partners can no longer deny the deterioration of the human rights situation and politically motivated violations in Djibouti. It is time for international and regional bodies, in particular the African Union, to seize it for the restoration of the rule of law in the country. »
Paul Nsapu, Vice President of FIDH
Faced with this situation, our organizations call on the Djiboutian authorities to:
• put an end to human rights abuses in all their forms throughout the national territory;
• implement the decision of the UN Human Rights Committee regarding the Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development (MRD) and its President;
• open an independent investigation into the repeated abuses by the police and military against civilians, as well as the bringing to justice of all those responsible;
• respect the conditions of detention, under the supervision of a magistrate and with respect for human dignity for all detainees in Gabode central prison and other places of deprivation of liberty;
• release all those arbitrarily detained, including pilot Fouad Youssouf Ali [1];
• respect democratic principles and rules, in particular the guarantee of the constitutional separation of powers and the end of the instrumentalization of justice for political ends.
Djibouti’s partners, and particularly those with military bases in the country, as well as intergovernmental institutions, should encourage the Djiboutian state to respect the principles of the rule of law and to cease all human rights violations.
Ratings
[1] Fouad Youssouf Ali, a former lieutenant in the Djibouti air force, fled to Ethiopia at the end of March 2020, to seek asylum there. Prior to his departure, the pilot made allegations of corruption against a senior officer and of discrimination based on clanism. In April 2020, Ethiopia deported him to Djibouti. He was sentenced on November 8, 2021 by the Criminal Court of Djibouti to ten years’ criminal imprisonment, and a fine of 300,000 Djiboutian francs (FD) and two million FD to be paid to the State of Djibouti, for “crime of provocation to take up arms against the authority of the State, the offense of attempted theft of a military aircraft and provocation of soldiers to disobedience”.
Source: International Federation of Human Rights Leagues