DJIBOUTI (Halbeeg News) – Djibouti President Ismael Omar Guelleh has arrived in his country days after social media rumours claimed that he was rushed to Paris for health complications.
Sunday’s statement said Geulleh had returned from a “private visit to France”, Djibouti’s former colonial power.
The president’s Twitter account posted images of Guelleh leaving his plane.
Le Président Guelleh de retour au pays.
Le retour du Chef de l’Etat marque la poursuite, à un rythme encore plus soutenu, des efforts au développement sous l’autorité directe du Président de la République, Chef du Gouvernement, Son Excellence Ismail Omar Guelleh. pic.twitter.com/vPMqZrcfYb
— Ismail Omar Guelleh (@IsmailOguelleh) September 19, 2021
President Guelleh flew to Paris for checkup last Monday barely hours after after rumours began to circulate on social media but the claims were dismissed by Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf issued a series of tweets saying the reports were incorrect.
The prime minister and the government spokesman also said Guelleh was taking a break because of “overwork”.
Last April, Guelleh, 73 was re-elected with 98.58 % of the vote, defeating Zakaria Ismail, an independent and a newcomer candidate, earning him a fifth term, citing provisional results.
Guelleh is ruling the nation since 1999.
Djibouti is a largely desert country strategically situated on one of the world’s busiest trade routes and at the crossroads between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, a short distance from war-torn Yemen.
Djibouti is a key staging ground for both the United States, which uses Camp Lemmonier on the outskirts of
Djibouti’s capital as an operating base for 4,000 US and allied personnel, France and China, which chose the country to host its first overseas military installation in 2017.
From a US perspective, Djibouti is ideally located for conducting missions in the Middle East and East Africa; for Beijing, a military presence in Djibouti helps secure its substantial East African investments.
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