2011 — Djibouti's Arab Spring Uprising

On February 19, 2011, tiny Djibouti joined the Arab Spring, and its streets turned deadly. Thousands had rallied the day before, demanding President Ismail Omar Guelleh step down after he rewrote the constitution to chase a third term.

Protesters met tear gas and batons; two lay dead, and three hundred organizers were arrested. The regime crushed the movement, and Guelleh won the April election anyway, while Western allies stayed silent. Djibouti's uprising is the Arab Spring's quiet footnote: a small country's brief, brave stand, ended by force and largely ignored by the watching world. Three hundred arrests in a tiny country is a message meant to be heard by everyone.