Djibouti Civil War (1991 - 2001)

The Djibouti Civil War, was a conflict in Djibouti between the People's Rally for Progress (RPP) government, principally of Issa in ethnicity and the predominantly Afar rebel group, the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD). Djibouti is a multi-ethnic nation with a population of over 828,324 inhabitants and Arabic and French constitute the country's two official languages. Djibouti is a one party dominant state, with the People's Rally for Progress (RPP) controlling the legislature and the executive since its foundation in 1979.

In 1991 a civil war broke out, as a reaction, to the lack of Afar presence in the government, despite representing a considerable percentage of the country's population. Due their lack of political inclusion, the Afar people felt increasingly marginalized and oppressed by the ruling government. When the Afar troops began to capture military posts in the North, the French government moved its troops to the North to assist the RPP government. Peace talks in November 1992 and May 1993 both failed and the conflict resumed with even more severe consequences. A small faction of FRUD signed a peace accord with the government on December 26, 1994, and fighting subsided to some extent with the formation of multi-party political system in 1994. Although a radical faction continued small-scale armed resistance, eventually signing its own peace agreement in 2001 ending the violent conflict.