The Horn of Africa country has fewer than a million inhabitants but occupies a strategic position on one the world’s busiest shipping routes.

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A divided opposition and lack of strong challengers virtually ensures Ismail Omar Guelleh a fourth mandate.

Term limits have been scrapped in Djibouti that’s had only two presidents since independence from France in 1977.

France, the United States and Japan have military bases in the country on the Bab el Mandeb Strait.

China is building its first foreign naval base there – skirting volatile regions in Africa and Middle East.

Guelleh has promised to use revenue from these military visitors to ease the grinding poverty affecting a quarter of his population.

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