Djibouti: Will it become another Egypt?

Protests are taking place in Djibouti against President Ismail Omar Guelleh who succeeded his uncle Hassan Gouled Aptidon in 1999. Somaliland Press reports that 300 protesters demonstrated near the governmental palace on Friday.

Jones says he can not avoid to write about Djibouti's current political situation:

I haven't written much about Djibouti's current political situation, for many reasons, but I don't think I can avoid it much longer. With events in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain, Algeria…protest fever seems to be in the air and Djibouti is not immune.

We have experienced strikes when students are dissatisfied with teachers, lack of supplies or their grades. There have also been occasional, small-scale demonstrations over political issues or if the khat plane fails to arrive. But in the seven years we have lived here, nothing has been major enough to alarm us, just enough to keep us in the house for an afternoon or so.

Someone told her (Jones), “Djibouti isn't peaceful today, go home”:

Today there are planned protests, to begin sometime after 1400. We are just planning to stay inside. The only difference we have noticed lately around town is a vast increase in police presence, more rocks than normal in the streets and this morning while I ran and Henry biked around in the desert, someone said to us, “Djibouti isn't peaceful today, go home.”

Daniel McCurry, a blogger based in Djibouti, posts a video from the recent student protests and writes, “2nd day of protests and fatalities”:

I was in a cafe tonight watching Djibouti News and they showed pictures of burned out cars and several semi trucks burned. There was even a gas tanker burned. Another friend told me there were skirmishes with police until about 1 am last night. In Belbela right outside of the city there were rock throwing protests against police this morning. Currently all the schools are on vacation but the university is not. Attendance was very low today at the university many students stayed home because of the events of yesterday and today.

Harawo posts a statement from Union for Democratic Transition:

The protests continue not only in the capital but in many towns and villages. We are informed that they would have started early this morning Yoboki Ali Sabieh, Dikhil Obock and who also had expressed yesterday as Djibouti and Tadjourah, now under high tension.

#Djibouti Tweets:

@amanamongmen says:

News coming out of Djibouti. If they know what is healthy 4 them, they should release the activist they jailed 4 insurrectionary movements.

@texasinafrica can't keep up with uprisings anymore:

It was so much easier when social movements happened one at a time. Gabon, Libya, Djibouti, Cote d'Ivoire – I can't keep up.

@FelixPax retweets:

@acarvin RT @Sentletse: #Djibouti experienced its share of pro-democracy protests where an estimated 30,000 took to the streets on Sunday

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