ADDIS ABABA: Djibouti’s parliament removed the age limit for presidents with a unanimous vote on Sunday, its speaker said, opening the way for leader Ismail Omar Guelleh to run for a sixth term.
Guelleh, 77, has held power since 1999 in the tiny Horn of Africa nation, a major port that hosts military bases for the United States, France, China, Japan and Italy.
Djibouti’s lawmakers unanimously approved the change to the constitution to remove a bar on running for president past the age of 75.
The move allows Guelleh to run in the next election in April 2026, likely facing minimal opposition in a country with limited freedom of expression and press.
“The National Assembly ratified the removal of the age limit today, so it is official,” said parliament speaker Dileita Mohamed Dileita.
Parliament had already passed the motion a week earlier in an initial vote that was then approved by Guelleh and sent back to lawmakers for the final vote.
Dileita earlier said the constitutional change was necessary to ensure “the stability of the small country, in a troubled region, the Horn of Africa, with Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.”
Guelleh won the last election in 2021 with 97 percent of the vote while his party, the Union for the Presidential Majority, holds the majority of parliamentary seats.
He succeeded Hassan Gouled Aptidon, the father of Djibouti’s independence, in 1999 after serving as his chief of staff for 22 years.
Djibouti has only around one million inhabitants but lies on the strategic trade route of the Bab El-Mandeb Strait on the Red Sea.
Djibouti parliament removes presidential age limit: speaker
https://arab.news/b3hm9
Djibouti parliament removes presidential age limit: speaker
- Vote opens the way for leader Ismail Omar Guelleh to run for a sixth term
- Guelleh, 77, has held power since 1999 in the tiny Horn of Africa nation
The UN aid coordination agency cuts its funding appeal after Western support plunges
- The UN aid coordinator sought $47 billion for this year and aimed to help 190 million people worldwide. Because of the lower support, it and humanitarian partners reached 25 million fewer people this year than in 2024
GENEVA: The UN’s humanitarian aid coordination office is downsizing its appeal for annual funding in 2026 after support this year, mostly from Westerngovernments, plunged to the lowest level in a decade.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Monday it was seeking $33 billion to help some 135 million people cope with fallout from wars, climate disasters, earthquakes, epidemics and food shortages. This year, it took in $15 billion, the lowest level in a decade.
The office says next year it wants more than $4.1 billion to reach 3 million people in Palestinian areas, another $2.9 billion for Sudan — home to the world’s largest displacement crisis — and $2.8 billion for a regional plan around Syria.
“In 2025, hunger surged. Food budgets were slashed — even as famines hit parts of Sudan and Gaza. Health systems broke apart,” said OCHA chief Tom Fletcher. “Disease outbreaks spiked. Millions went without essential food, health care and protection. Programs to protect women and girls were slashed, hundreds of aid organizations shut.”
The UN aid coordinator sought $47 billion for this year and aimed to help 190 million people worldwide. Because of the lower support, it and humanitarian partners reached 25 million fewer people this year than in 2024.
The donor fatigue comes as many wealthy European countries face security threats from an increasingly assertive Russia on their eastern flank and have experienced lackluster economic growth in recent years, putting new strains on government budgets and the consumers who pay taxes to sustain them.
“I know budgets are tight right now. Families everywhere are under strain,” Fletcher said. “But the world spent $2.7 trillion on defense last year – on guns and arms. And I’m asking for just over 1 percent of that.”
The UN system this year has slashed thousands of jobs, notably at its migration and refugee agencies, and Secretary-General António Guterres’ office has launched a review of UN operations — which may or may not produce firm results.
Fletcher, who answers to Guterres, has called for “radical transformation” of aid by reducing bureaucracy, boosting efficiency and giving more power to local groups. Fletcher cited “very practical, constructive conversations” almost daily with the Trump administration.
“Do I want to shame the world into responding? Absolutely,” Fletcher said. “But I also want to channel this sense of determination and anger that we have as humanitarians, that we will carry on delivering with what we get.”
