East Africa

Djibouti

Capital: Djibouti
Head of state: Ismaïl Omar Guelleh
Head of government: Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed
U.S. ambassador: Cynthia Kierscht

Leaders · U.S. mission · Reported with

Leaders

Head of stateIsmaïl Omar GuellehPresident of DjiboutiSince May 8, 1999 · 27 years, 5 months
Head of governmentAbdoulkader Kamil MohamedPrime Minister of DjiboutiSince April 1, 2013 · 13 years, 6 months

U.S. mission

U.S. ambassadorCynthia KierschtU.S. Ambassador to Djibouti

Official U.S. mission website

Djibouti in Washington

Ambassador to the U.S.Mohamed Siad DoualeAmbassador of Djibouti to the United StatesSince January 28, 2016 · 10 years, 8 months

Reporting on Djibouti

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The coastal town of Obock, Djibouti — Obock, on Djibouti's northern coast, photographed in 2012. (File photo)vxr7475 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

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“Buried With No Names”: At Least 139 Migrants, Including 15 Children, Die as Overcrowded Boat Sinks Off Djibouti; 84 Missing

The vessel, carrying 305 people toward Yemen, capsized near Guhere, north of Obock. Fifteen children are among the dead, every survivor is Ethiopian, and the U.N. migration agency says the toll will rise because migrants buried some victims themselves.

Oct 13

Exterior of the State Department headquarters in Washington

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U.S.–Africa

U.S. Trafficking Report: Ghana Is Africa’s Only Tier 1 Country, Djibouti Moves Up and the Republic of Congo Drops to Tier 3

The State Department’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons report, released Oct. 8, keeps Eritrea on the bottom tier, upgrades Djibouti — host of the main U.S. base in Africa — to Tier 2, and places Ethiopia and Kenya on Tier 2. A Tier 3 ranking can cost governments non-humanitarian U.S. aid.

Oct 12

Often reported with

Republic of Congo (1)Eritrea (1)Ethiopia (1)Ghana (1)Kenya (1)

Also in East Africa

Comoros Eritrea Ethiopia Kenya Madagascar Mauritius Rwanda Seychelles Somalia South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Uganda

Leaders: UN Protocol list of heads of state and government (19 Sept. 2026), updated for later official appointments. U.S. diplomats: each U.S. embassy’s official website. Photos: licensed (public domain or Creative Commons) with credit.