Armed and insecure

the UN Firearms Protocol on small arms. An assessment of Djibouti’s implementation of the
UN Programme of Action on the Illicit Trade of Small Arms and Light Weapons, a political
commitment, found that the nation was ranked 133 among 159 countries analysed. 728 However,
at the regional level, Djibouti has signed and ratified the Nairobi Protocol for the Prevention,
Control and Reduction of Small Arms and Light Weapons in the Great Lakes Region, the Horn
of Africa and Bordering States, a legally-binding commitment. 729 !
Spotlight: Spillover from Yemen
While the patterns of its armed violence are both opaque and relatively smallscale
compared to its neighbours, conflict nearby has exacted significant
impacts on Djibouti. Yemeni refugees, particularly from southern locations
such as Ibb, Aden and Taiz, have flocked to the tiny African nation; some are
highly educated and most suffer a difficult transition given the poor living
conditions in the refugee camp in a remote area close to Obock, a four-hour
drive north from the capital. 730 Despite sandstorms and temperatures as high
as 50 degrees Celsius, life in Obock can compare positively to what was left
behind, as many refugees are ‘deeply traumatized’ and even had troops on
Yemen’s mainland fire artillery at them as their escape boats crossed the Babel-Mandeb.
The US ambassador to Djibouti has praised the government, stating
“they’ve saved thousands of lives. It deserves credit for opening its borders to
people who had nowhere else to go”. 731
Current estimates point to around 35,000 Yemenis having arrived in Djibouti
fleeing the brutal war. 732 As at May 2015, the UN had registered 1,200 Yemenis
at the Markazi camp, reaching 2,800 by November, and around 3,000 at its
peak. 733 A report in April 2016 noted that the influx had dropped from a high
of 800 refugees per week in late 2015 to 40 a week in early 2016. Highlighting
the rough conditions of the camp, which also houses Eritrean citizens who had
fled that country only to be forced back because of the conflict, one Yemeni
refugee stated, “either we die here, or we die there. There’s only death [...] We
ask that the world helps us, and take us far from here. We want a place where
728 GunPolicy.org, ‘Djibouti - Gun Facts, Figures and the Law’, www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/djibouti.
729 Programme of Action Implementation Support System, ‘RESCA’, www.poa-iss.org/RegionalOrganizations/8.aspx.
730 The National, ‘Global Talk: Fleeing Yemenis seek shelter in Djibouti - EP 22’, May 2015, www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/global-talk-fleeing-yemenisseek-shelter-in-djibouti--ep-22.
731 Deutsche Welle, ‘So near and yet so far: Yemeni refugees stuck in Djibouti’, June 2016, www.dw.com/en/so-near-and-yet-so-far-yemeni-refugees-stuck-indjibouti/a-19341128.
732 Relief Web, ‘Between a rock and a hard place: safe from war, Yemenis struggle’, April 2016, http://reliefweb.int/report/djibouti/between-rock-and-hard-placesafe-war-yemenis-struggle;
The Guardian, ‘All roads lead to Djibouti as refugees flee Yemen even as migrants head there’, May 2016, www.theguardian.com/
global-development/2016/may/23/all-roads-djibouti-refugees-flee-yemen-civil-war-migrants-head-there.
733 UNHCR, ‘As fighting in Yemen intensifies, more flee to Djibouti‘, November 2015, www.unhcr.org/5643218b6.html; Deutsche Welle, ‘So near and yet so far:
Yemeni refugees stuck in Djibouti’, June 2016, www.dw.com/en/so-near-and-yet-so-far-yemeni-refugees-stuck-in-djibouti/a-19341128.
PAX ! Armed and insecure
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