May 15, 2021
The event, which is being held in the country’s capital, started at 9.30am local time.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Somalia Prime Minister Hussein Roble, Guinea’s President Alpha Conde and representatives from Sudan’s transitional government attended. China, India and Gulf countries are also expected to send representatives to the occasion.
President Guelleh will begin his fifth term in office, after collecting the highest vote percentage since he came to power in 1999.
The vote in April went ahead despite rising Covid-19 cases in the country, with more than 215,000 registered votes taking part.
And at 73, Guelleh will be among the oldest leaders in the region, leading a country of about one million people in the Horn of Africa. This could be his last term, after the 2010 Constitution limited age of Presidential contenders to 75 or lower. Guelleh, for now, is seen as a stabilizer in a region where neighbours are fighting one security crisis or another.
“President Guelleh provides IGAD of leadership needed to strengthen peace and security, and deepen regional integration,” Nuur Mohamud Sheekh, Spokesperson of the regional bloc (IGAD), headquatred in Djibouti said
“His win is definitely testimony to the outstanding achievements of his leadership especially in the areas of infrastructural development, consolidation of peace in his country and the region.”
Djibouti is a force contributing country, the African Union Mission in Somalia forces and hosts a number of military bases for the US, China, Japan and NATO, signalling its importance to the global security. Russia was inkling to establish one too.
News Agencies
