Ismaïl Omar Guelleh

The father of Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, son of Guelleh Batal, is Omar Guelleh, one of the first native teachers in the 1930s before working, following his father's path, on behalf of the Franco-Ethiopian Railway Company (CFE) which built the line connecting Djibouti to Addis Ababa and whose head office was in Dire Dawa.

When Guelleh was younger he attended a traditional Islamic school.

Ismaïl Omar Guellé (Ismaaciil Cumar Geelle ; إسماعيل عمر جيله) (born 27 November 1946) is the current President of Djibouti.

In 1960, Guelleh migrated to Djibouti before finishing high school.

In 1964, at the age of 18, Ismail Omar Guelleh began working in the General Information of the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas, because he spoke Amharic, Somali, Arabic, French, Italian and English.

In 1975, he was suspended from his duties because he was suspected of transmitting information to the independence movement.

He then became involved in the African People's League for Independence (LPAI) chaired by Hassan Gouled Aptidon, who campaigns for independence.

Guelleh was elected into the LPAI’s Central Committee in 1983 and subsequently became the director of a cultural commission in Paris.

In 1987, he became a member of the party leadership.

After Djibouti became independent, he became head of the secret police and chief of the cabinet in the government of his uncle Hassan Gouled Aptidon, for whom he also served as chief of staff for more than two decades.

He received training from the Somali National Security Service and then from the French Secret Service, and was intended to become his uncle's successor.

He has been in office since 1999, making him one of the longest-serving rulers in Africa.

He is often referred to by his initials, IOG.

Guelleh was first elected as President in 1999 as the handpicked successor to his uncle, Hassan Gouled Aptidon, who had ruled Djibouti since independence in 1977.

He became President of Djibouti in 1999.

Djibouti is one of four countries in Africa that have experienced instances of immediate successions from one family member to another.

On 4 February 1999, President Gouled Aptidon, uncle of Ismail Guelleh, announced his retirement at the time of the next election, and an extraordinary congress of his party, the ruling People's Rally for Progress (RPP), chose Guelleh as its presidential candidate, handpicked by Aptidon.

As the joint candidate of the RPP and moderate wing of the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD), Guelleh won the presidential election held on 9 April 1999 with 74.02% of the vote, defeating his only challenger, the independent candidate Moussa Ahmed Idriss.

He took office on 8 May.

Moussa Ahmed Idriss was arrested the following September for "threatening the morale of the armed forces" and detained at an undisclosed location.

In December 2000, Guelleh sacked the chief of staff of the National Police Force, Yacin Yabeh, prompting policemen loyal to Yabeh to unsuccessfully rebel following his dismissal.

Guelleh is credited with brokering a permanent peace agreement that year that brought to an end the country’s post-independence ethnic conflict.

Guelleh was nominated by the RPP as its presidential candidate for a second time on 7 October 2004, at an Extraordinary Congress of the party.

Guelleh was re-elected in 2005, 2011, 2016 and in 2021.

The elections were largely boycotted by the opposition amid complaints over widespread irregularities.

Guelleh has been characterized as a dictator, and his rule has been criticized by human rights groups and governments, such as the United States.

He is, at the international level, a close ally of France.

He was backed by several other parties and was the only candidate in the presidential election held on 8 April 2005.

Brief protests against the elections erupted but were quickly suppressed by police.

Without a challenger, Guelleh won 100% of the ballots cast and was sworn in for a second six-year term, which he said would be his last, on 7 May.

However, in 2010, Guelleh persuaded the National Assembly of Djibouti to amend the nation's Constitution, allowing him to stand for a third term.

It also resulted in large protests beginning in 2010 similar to the larger movement for democracy in the Arab countries.

The protests were quickly put down, opposition leaders arrested and international observers expelled or arrested.

Opposition parties boycotted the election, leaving only one little-known candidate against him on the ballot.

Guelleh won almost 80% of the vote.

Human Rights Watch questioned the fairness of the election given that opposition leaders were jailed twice prior to polling.

Guelleh again said that he would not run for another term.

This cleared the way for him to place his name on the ballot in Djibouti's 2011 election.

He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award, on 25 January 2019 for his role in the safe evacuation of Indian citizens from Yemen.

Guelleh was born in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, into the politically powerful Mamassan subclan of the Ciise Dir clan of the Somali ethnic group.