Nomads become sedentary
Sedentarization, which has been taking place since the beginning of the twentieth century, is taking place in an extremely limited area: a large capital and a few modest provincial towns. This movement began when the French chose Djibouti to build a major port. Labour was needed to build the port and the railways, to unload the ships and trains, and to open the shops. Djibouti-City then acted as a magnet. The railroad gradually replaced the camel caravans and took away the work of many nomads. This sedentarization movement is still under way. The severe droughts, which have been raging since the 1970s, have made nomadic life increasingly difficult: water is scarce and living conditions are hardly improving. Ethiopia has closed its borders to the herds of Djiboutian nomads, who traditionally came to enjoy the water and vegetation of the highlands. The N1 road and its trucks have practically put an end to the caravan economy. Of course, some of them still travel, but in addition to salt and hides, they now carry hi-fi systems and trinkets made in China. Many have been forced to move to the suburbs of Djibouti City or other cities. Life is hard, but often easier than in the desert. Sometimes with their herds (their most precious possession), the nomads have settled in Balbala for example, preceded or joined by refugees from neighbouring countries. But if the population is becoming massively sedentary, everyone keeps close links with nomadic life: family, way of life, traditions, hospitality, endurance, reading the landscape, dances, tribal hierarchy... The change is too recent for centuries and centuries of nomadism to be quickly forgotten.
Afars, Issas : the soul of the Djiboutian people
The two main groups that make up the Djiboutian population are the Afars and the Issas. Their origin is common and the foreigner passing through (as well as the one who lives there) often has a hard time distinguishing them, as the differences seem so minor. Afars and Issas are united by a common religion: Islam. And by the way of life of their ancestors: nomadism. Afars and Issas are of Cushitic (or Chamite) origin, the name given to the various peoples who settled in the Horn of Africa by successive migrations, from about 1000 BC. According to local legends, they came from western Ethiopia and present-day Sudan and gradually advanced towards the coast. The first migrations that settled in Eritrea, near the Awach river, gave birth to the Afars. Others, still in Eritrea, gave rise to the Sahos. Later, other migrations arrived in the north-east of the Horn of Africa, giving rise to the Somalis. Differentiation was mainly due to the influence of other populations that settled or traded with the peoples of this region. Later, other influences, Indian, Arab, European, will further blur the distinctions.
The Issa territory, in Djibouti, corresponds approximately to the south of the country. The Somali culture is that of the nomads. And its values continue to exist despite the progressive sedentarization of the population. The Somalis are divided into several tribes, linked by the same culture, the same values. The Issas are part of it, as well as the Issak and the Gadaboursi, also present in Djibouti but in small numbers. Most of the Somalis live in Somalia and in small areas of Ethiopia and Kenya. The Afar territory corresponds to the north of the country, from the Eritrean border to Dikhil. Most of the Afar (4/5th) live in Ethiopian territory.Afar and Somali languages
Both languages have common roots. They were only transcribed in the 1970s. And even then, not in a definitive way. Listening to them, it is difficult for the uninitiated to make the difference. One characteristic brings Afars and Issas together: all or almost all of them are multilingual (this is more true in Djibouti-City than inland). In addition to their own language, they speak Arabic (language of religion) and French (language of education), often with great ease.
Culture here has been oral for centuries and centuries. The history of this land, that of the ancestors, and the traditions have been passed on through the voice, songs, stories and poems. Oral agreements are as valuable as written contracts. Egyptians, Arabs, French and many others have written about the history of the region in their own language. But the locals tell it. Memory is therefore an essential tool. We are accustomed to hearing and remembering at an early age. Everyone is supposed to know the names of their ancestors by heart, over several generations. This undoubtedly explains the great ease with which Djiboutians learn languages. This culture of learning by listening is not incompatible with written teaching, timidly imported by the French settlers, then generalized after independence.
Nomadic Issas and Afars have conformed for centuries to a set of oral rules of which the head of the family is the first guarantor. All are closely linked to the nomadic life. To these ancestral oral rules are superimposed the written laws of the colonists and those of the new republic. Customary and modern justice try to get along well. But it is still the former that is called upon in the first place.The tribe comes first
"The Somali is born on the road, under a hut, a yurt, or simply under the stars. He does not know his place of birth, which is not recorded anywhere. Like his parents, he is not from any village or town. His identity is determined solely by his link with his family, his group, his clan. The individual does not exist, he counts only as part of a tribe. " (Ryszard Kapuściński, Ebony
).The Somali world is structured by the reer, which hierarchizes the space of the individual. And relations between and within groups are managed by a traditional legal system called xeer. This oral code organizes the life of the Issas since the 16th century. Its rules are applied by the guiddis
, an assembly made up of forty-four members (clan representatives, wise men, etc.), which evaluates each offence (from insult to murder) and decides on the sum to be paid (in cattle in particular) for reparation.In a traditional family, the roles are well defined: the man is in charge of the security of the herd and the camp, and of relations with the outside world. The women raise the children and take care of the water and wood supply. The children soon learn to herd cattle. For a long time, the life of these families revolved around a single goal: the quest for water. This implies a great freedom of movement, which the borders drawn by history and by the Europeans have undermined.
The customary law of the Danakil, the other name of the Afar, is made up of a set of rules called fima. The fimami, assemblies made up of people grouped by age (where group discipline and solidarity are learned), set the laws that allow the cohesion of a tribe, of a clan. The individual must follow them throughout his life. These oral rules specify the role of each person, defined according to their sex and age. The distribution of tasks, applying to the nomads, is quite similar to that which is mentioned for the Issas.Minorities and refugees
There are also other ethnic groups in Djibouti, which are in a strong minority. For example, the Midgan, today associated with the blacksmiths who, in Tadjourah for example, make the famous nomadic daggers. The Yemenis have been quite numerous since the first centuries of our era. In Djibouti City, for example, many traders and most fishermen are of Yemeni origin. Large families of Yemeni traders (Coubèche, Farah, Anis) have been settled here for a very long time and are actively involved in local life. Djibouti has also been a land of trade for decades, attracting merchants and traders (Armenians, Indians, Chinese, Greeks, Jews, Pakistanis, Senegalese ...). On the other hand, the foreign presence is very weak outside the capital. The conflicts of the 1980s and 1990s in neighbouring countries (Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, Sudan) led to an influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants to Djibouti. This population has massed in border camps or moved to the outskirts of the capital in the hope of finding work. Refugees now make up a quarter of the Djiboutian population. Some have integrated very well and are participating more and more in local life. Others are still waiting to return to their country of origin.
The French presence in Djibouti
Djibouti's independence in 1977 did not sever all ties with France, the former colonizing country. Relations remain strong on the cultural, economic, political and military levels. Some 1,500 French military personnel are stationed in Djibouti (2020), to which must be added their families. The presence of French forces on Djiboutian territory is governed by the Treaty on Defence Cooperation signed on 21 December 2011 between the two countries. It is a rotating presence. Every three years, the number of troops is renewed. The surveillance of maritime traffic and the fight against terrorism in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean alongside Nato forces are today the main missions of the French Forces in Djibouti (FFDJ). In addition to the French and Americans (nearly 4,000 troops), Germans, Spaniards, Italians, Japanese and Chinese are also stationed here.
