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General Information Area: 23,200 sq km (8958 sq miles). Population: 629,000 (official estimate 1999). Population Density: 27.1 per sq km. Capital: Djibouti. Population: 250,000 (1995). GEOGRAPHY: Djibouti is part of the African continent bounded to the northeast and east by the Red Sea, the southeast by Somalia, the southwest by Ethiopia and to the north by Eritrea. The country is a barren strip of land around the Gulf of Tadjoura, varying in width from 20km (12 miles) to 90km (56 miles), with a coastline of 300km (188 miles), much of it white sandy beaches. Inland is semi-desert and desert, with thorn bushes, steppes and volcanic mountain ranges. Language: The official languages are Arabic and French. Afar and Somali are spoken locally. English is spoken by hoteliers, taxi drivers and traders. Government: Republic. Gained independence from France in 1977. Head of State: President Ismail Omar Guelleh since 1999. Head of Government: Prime Minister Dileita Mohamed Dileita since 2001. Religion: Muslim with Roman Catholic, Protestant and Greek Orthodox minorities. Time: GMT + 3. Electricity: 220 volts AC, 50Hz. Communications:   Telephone IDD available. Country code: 253. Outgoing international code: 00. Mobile telephone AMPS network offers coverage of the capital and 40km (25 miles) aroud it. Handsets can be hired at the main post office. A GSM network is being installed. Fax There are no public facilities. Internet Services are accessible in the main post office and some hotels. There is at least one Internet cafe in Djibouti. ISPs include the Société des Télécommunications Internationales de Djibouti (website: www.intnet.dj). Telegram Telegrams can be sent from the main post office from 0700-2000. Telegram services are also available at the Telegraph office. Post Letters and parcels to western Europe can take about a week by airmail or up to three weeks by surface mail. Press Djibouti has no daily papers. A weekly newspaper, La Nation de Djibouti, is published in French. There is at least one Arabic newspaper. Other weekly newspapers published in French include Le Temps, Le Progrès, Le Renouveau and La Republique. BBC World Service and Voice of America frequencies: From time to time these change. BBC (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice): MHz 17.89 15.42 9.630 6.005 Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov): MHz 15.58 11.98 6.035 0.909 From www.columbusguides.com, Copyright © 2004 Highbury Columbus Travel Publishing Terms and Conditions apply.