Djibouti is a country of fewer than a million people with no significant natural resources.<\/p>\n
It also hosts the densest cluster of foreign military bases in the world, with bases from the United States, China, France, Japan and Italy operating within miles of each other along its coastline.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n These countries, seeking bases for both commercial and security purposes, have been warmly welcomed by President Ismail Omar Guelleh, who has ruled for at least two decades and leveraged the country\u2019s strategic location to advance his own aims.<\/p>\n As Djiboutians go to the polls on Friday with Guelleh safely expected to win his sixth term, it is a strategy that has never looked more consequential.<\/p>\n The reason is the maritime chokepoint just beyond Djibouti\u2019s shore.<\/p>\n Bab-el-Mandeb \u2014 the Gate of Tears \u2014 is a narrow corridor barely 30 kilometres wide at its tightest point, through which roughly 12 percent of global maritime trade passes every day, while at least 90 percent of Europe-Asia internet capacity runs through cables laid along the same route.<\/p>\n \u201cThis region sits at the centre of many things from global trade, shipping, to fibre optic connectivity, energy, and is related to the Suez Canal, the Indo-Pacific,\u201d Federico Donelli, author of the book, Power Competition in the Red Sea, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n With the US and Israel at war with Iran since February 28, and the Strait of Hormuz under Iranian control, Djibouti and its position at the entrance to the Red Sea have come into sharp focus.<\/p>\n When the September 11, 2001, attacks pushed the US to seek forward bases in East Africa, Djibouti was the obvious answer.<\/p>\n Camp Lemonnier, a former French Foreign Legion base on the edge of Djibouti City, became the headquarters of US Africa Command\u2019s Horn of Africa task force. It remains the only permanent US military base on the continent, home to more than 4,000 personnel.<\/p>\n France, which had colonised and then stayed on in Djibouti after independence in 1977, was already there. French President Emmanuel Macron recently described it as sitting at the \u201cheart<\/a>\u201d of Paris\u2019s Indo-Pacific strategy, and has a mutual defence pact which was renewed in 2024.<\/p>\n Piracy off the Somali coast in the late 2000s brought Japan, Italy, and eventually China.<\/p>\n \u201cMany countries with military bases in Djibouti emphasise protecting their commercial and investment interests,\u201d said Djibouti\u2019s president, in a 2024 interview with Saudi Arabian-owned news outlet Asharq Al-Awsat.<\/p>\n As a major trading power, Japan was especially exposed to insecurity in the Red Sea, through which a significant share of its traded goods transited.<\/p>\n One fifth of Japan\u2019s vehicle exports and roughly 1,800 Japan-linked commercial vessels traverse the Bab-el-Mandeb annually, according to a government report<\/a> published in March.<\/p>\n In 2017, Djibouti Finance Minister Ilyas Dawaleh outlined<\/a> how much the country was charging for the privilege of hosting: the US was paying $65m a year, France $30m, China $20m, Italy and Japan just over $3m each.<\/p>\n \u201cOur geography is our main national resource,\u201d a Djiboutian official told Al Jazeera. \u201cLike oil for Gulf states,\u201d he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
![\"INTERACTIVE](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/INTERACTIVE-Bab-al-Mandeb-strait-red-sea-map-route-shipping-map-1774773769.png?quality=80\")
\u2018Geography is our main national resource\u2019<\/h2>\n