Djibouti–Ethiopia border

France’s coastal zone

France acquired Obock from Afar chiefs in 1862 and in 1884–85 extended its protection along the Gulf of Tadjoura. Djibouti became the capital in 1892, and the territory was named French Somaliland four years later. In 1897 work began on a Franco-Ethiopian railway from Djibouti, which reached Addis Ababa in 1917.^[1]

A convention of 20 March 1897 between Ethiopia and France set the border of the French coastal zone as a line from Djalelo through a string of named places, including Gobad, the shore of Lake Abbe and the shore of Lake Alli, to Doumeira on the Red Sea coast.^[1]

“The border of the coastal zone retained by France as a possession or a direct protectorate shall be indicated by a line beginning on the French–English border at Djalelo…”^[1]

Marking it out

After World War II, a protocol of 5 September 1945 set up a joint commission. By October 1948 it had marked the line from Madaha Djalelo to Dirko Koma, then stopped because the tripoint with Eritrea could not be fixed until Eritrea’s status was settled. A 1954 protocol made that work final, and a second commission marked the rest, to Daddato, in 1954–55.^[1]

The pillars follow hilltops, ridges and wadis. At one point the line follows a wadi bed to “the extraordinary tree growing on its bank, which remains in Ethiopian territory”, then crosses the old Franco-Ethiopian railway.^[1] French Somaliland became the French Territory of the Afars and Issas in 1967.^[1]

Ethiopia’s road to the sea

A 750 km electric railway from Addis Ababa to Djibouti, built by Chinese companies and about 70% financed by China’s Exim Bank, was inaugurated in October 2016, replacing the old diesel line.^[2]

The World Bank calls the Addis–Djibouti corridor a lifeline for Ethiopia’s 120 million people: more than 95% of Ethiopia’s imports and exports by volume use it. In 2023 it approved a $730 million grant to upgrade the road to Djibouti.^[3]