By Mark Ogagan
Djibouti’s President, Ismail Omar Guelleh, who has been in power since 1999, is not ruling out contesting for a sixth term in next April’s election despite a constitutional ban on doing so.
In an interview published on Friday, the 77-year-old said: “I won’t answer that.”
“What I can say is that I love my country too much to lead it into a reckless venture or sow division,” he added.
Running in the 2026 race would require changing the constitution, which prohibits candidates older than 75.
Guelleh (Pictured), won 97 percent of the vote in the 2021 election and his UMP party currently holds a majority in parliament.
Guelleh, known as “IOG”, succeeded Hassan Gouled Aptidon — who led Djibouti to independence from France in 1977 — after serving as his chief of staff for 22 years.
Djibouti is a tiny but stable state in a troubled region that has become a key strategic base for major powers, with the United States, France and China all maintaining a military presence there.
The Horn of Africa country, bordering Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, is one of the least populated on the continent, with around one million inhabitants.
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