The Djibouti Review Mission was officially launched on 5 August 2015 by H.E. Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed, Prime Minister of the Republic of Djibouti, in the presence of the Honourable Joseph Tsang Mang Kin, the Lead Panel Member and Head of an APRM Team comprising 18 experts and consultants from 12 African countries, as well as Djibouti’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and APRM Focal Point, represented at the ceremony by the Minister of State for International Cooperation and the other members of the Government, Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries, Mr. Abdoulkader Doualeh Wais, Chief Coordinator of the APRM National Governing Council, the APRM National Secretary and Madam Valérie Cliff, Coordinator of the UN System and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Also present at the launch ceremony were members of the Diplomatic Corps, representatives of Djibouti’s civil society and private sector, and development partners who came in their numbers to express their interest in good governance in the Republic of Djibouti.

In his address to the packed assembly, the Honourable Joseph Tsang Mang Kin strongly emphasized Djibouti’s commitment to the APRM process and cited financial constraints, elections and the passing away of some members of the APRM Panel as factors that somewhat delayed the APRM process in Djibouti. He added: ” … despite these difficulties and thanks to the renewed commitment to the Mechanism demonstrated by the President of the Republic, H.E. Ismael Omar GUELLEH, APRM-Djibouti managed to finalize the drafting of the Country Self-Assessment Report on Governance (CSAR) and the National Programme of Action Plan.” The Lead Panel Member noted, further, that “after three years of lethargy and inaction on the part of the APRM, Djibouti, a country enjoying political stability in a Horn of Africa tormented by conflicts and prone to recurrent natural disasters, will be making it possible for the APRM to revive its tradition of country peer reviews. In this respect, Djibouti has become the pride of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)”, he stressed. The audience was overjoyed at his statement.

UNDP, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) did provide support to the APRM in this exercise by sending respectively two or three of their representatives conversant with issues concerning inclusive growth and sustainable development, financial management, human rights and the rule of law, climate science, development of entrepreneurship and regional integration.
During the first week of the review, the APRM Team paid a courtesy visit to the President of the Republic of Djibouti, H.E. Ismael Omar GUELLEH, and had working sessions at the National Assembly, at the Offices of the National Commission on Human Rights, the Constitutional Council, the Ombudsman, the Planning Commission, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and at the Central Bank. The Team also had very fruitful discussions with representatives of the civil society and the private sector in Djibouti City. It is noteworthy that the APRM Delegation also made an extensive tour of the five regions of the country – Obock, Tadjourah, Dikhil, Ali-Sabieh and Arta – where they discussed with the civil society and the private sector, issues related to decentralization, capacity building and the development of the immense agro-pastoral and fishery potential to create new income for the local communities and especially jobs to reduce youth unemployment.