Published information on the situation of the Issa /Furlaba and their relationship with the current Djiboutian government could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

However, during a 4 January 1999 telephone interview, the chairman of the Party of Democratic Renewal -PRD (Parti du renouveau démocratique) and member of the Issa/Furlaba clan explained that the current "persecution" by the djiboutian government against some citizens is based on political membership and opinion, not on ethnic background.

Reached in Djiboutiville by telephone on 23 December 1998, a director of the Association pour le respect des droits de l'homme à Djibouti (ARDHD) stated that, on the eve of the 1999 presidential election, individuals, many of them from different Issa subclans (Mamassan, Furlaba, Odah Gob etc.), entered in competition to succeed Hassan Gouled Aptidon's succession who is Issa Mamassan. In that context, it seems, to the president of the ARDHD, to be a certain power struggle between individuals rather than inter clan conflicts. According to him, only some members from Afar clan may be targeted by the Djiboutian government on ethnic grounds because of their real or supposed support of the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy-FRUD, an armed opposition group to the Djiboutian régime (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Office of the Parti of Democratic Renewal (PRD) [Djiboutiville]. 4 January 1999. Telephone interview with the chairman.

President, Association pour le Respect des Droits de l'Homme à Djibouti [Djiboutiville]. 22 December 1998. Telephone interview.

The Indian Ocean Newsletter [Paris]. 1997-November 1998.

Electronic sources: IRB databases, Global Newsbank, LEXIS/NEXIS, Internet, REFWORLD, WNC.