Djibouti Election Unfolds at Strategic Shipping Chokepoint

Djibouti votes in a presidential election on Friday expected to extend President Ismail Omar Guelleh’s 27-year rule, as the strategically located country hosts major foreign military bases and sits on a key global shipping route under pressure from regional conflict.

Guelleh, 78, is set to extend his 27-year rule in a country that sits at the entrance to the Bab al-Mandab strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, where tensions linked to the war involving the United States, Israel…