POPULATION: 600,000 (official estimate 1997).

POPULATION DENSITY: 25.8 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 800km (497 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.

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. Fax: There are no public facilities. 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.

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