Djibouti designates Afar rebel group as a terrorist organization

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Friday October 14, 2022

Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, President of Djibouti

Mogadishu (HOL) - Djibouti has listed the FRUD-Armé militant group, which advocates for greater autonomy for the Afar ethnic group, as a terrorist organization on Thursday.

Djibouti's parliament decided after accusing FRUD of attacking a Djiboutian army barracks and killing seven Djiboutian troops in the country's north last Friday. Four soldiers were seriously injured, and six are still missing.

A statement from the defence ministry on Saturday blamed the attack on the “Armed FRUD”, referring to a splinter group of the Front for the Restoration and Democracy.

“Despite the fact that our soldiers defended themselves valiantly, this attack caused the death of seven of our soldiers, wounded four and left six missing,” it said in a statement.

A spokesperson for FRUD denied involvement in the attack, describing it as “unjustifiable in the current context of political pluralism”.

The armed attack on a Djiboutian army drew condemnation from Djibouti's friends in the international community.

FRUD was formed in 1991 by merging three Afar groups and launched a rebellion against Djibouti's Issa-dominated government.

Following a peace deal in 1994, FRUD split into two factions, one of which - The FRUD-Armé - relaunched an insurgency against Djibouti's government, primarily through small-arms attacks in the larger Obock-Tadjourah-Assa-Gueyla triangle and northern regions of the Dikhil region.

Before last week's attack, Djibouti officials say the FRUD's last strike by FRUD came in January 2021, when a policeman was killed.

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