Djibouti president plots sixth term

Ismail Omar Guelleh

Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh, in power since 1999, did not rule out running for a sixth term in next year’s election despite a constitutional ban on doing so, in an interview published Friday.

Asked about a potential candidacy in April 2026 in the interview with The Africa Report, the 77-year-old said: “I won’t answer that.”

“What I can say is that I love my country too much to lead it into a reckless venture or sow division,” he added.

Running in the 2026 race would require changing the constitution, which prohibits candidates older than 75.

Guelleh won 97 per cent of the vote in the 2021 election, and his UMP party currently holds a majority in parliament. Guelleh, known as “IOG”, succeeded Hassan Gouled Aptidon – who led Djibouti to independence from France in 1977 — after serving as his chief of staff for 22 years.

Djibouti is a tiny but stable state in a troubled region that has become a key strategic base for major powers, with the United States, France and China all maintaining a military presence there.

The Horn of Africa country, bordering Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, is one of the least populated on the continent, with around one million inhabitants. Punch