Ali Aref Bourhan, former Djibouti leader under French rule, dies at 91

DJIBOUTI CITY, Djibouti (AX) — Ali Aref Bourhan, the dominant political figure who led Djibouti during the final decade of French colonial rule and helped steer its fraught path to independence, died Monday after a long illness. He was 91.

President Ismail Omar Guelleh announced the death and offered condolences to Bourhan’s family, praising his decades of public service. “Ali Aref Bourhan will remain forever in the hearts of our citizens as a tireless public servant, guided by a strong sense of duty and commitment to results,” Guelleh said in a statement posted on social media.

Bourhan was one of the most influential — and polarizing — leaders of the pre-independence era. Backed by France, he led the French Territory of the Afars and Issas through years marked by political violence, ethnic tension and competing visions for the future. From 1967 to 1976, he served as president of the Territorial Council, effectively the top political authority as the territory moved toward sovereignty.

Earlier, he served as vice president of the governing council from 1960 to 1966 as a member of the UNI party. He resigned publicly in a Radio Djibouti address, saying he wanted to participate directly in the referendum that would determine the territory’s political future. He was later succeeded as council president by Abdallah Mohamed Kamil, who became Djibouti’s first prime minister after independence in 1977.

With independence looming, Bourhan voiced concern about the small nation’s future relations with powerful neighbors. Djibouti shares borders with Ethiopia and Somalia, whose competing interests overlapped with deep local divides. Many Afars supported continued ties with France, while the Issa community, closely linked to Somalia, pushed for change. Those fault lines fueled unrest and put Bourhan at the center of an increasingly volatile political landscape.

Omar Kheire, a longtime political associate, told the BBC that Bourhan was repeatedly targeted during the struggle because he headed the French-established administration. “He was not targeted because of who he was personally, but because of the political struggle of that period,” Kheire said.

Bourhan survived an assassination attempt in 1968, when attackers reportedly planned to kill him at a restaurant where he was expected to dine. The plot failed, but threats against his life persisted. “He was pursued almost daily. There was always an effort to find an opportunity to harm him,” Kheire said.

Born in 1934 in Tadjoura on Djibouti’s eastern coast, Bourhan came from a prominent family of mixed Afar and Somali heritage; his grandmother was Somali from the historic port of Zeila. He began his career as a schoolteacher in the early 1950s, then moved into youth organizing and eventually led a Somali youth association.

His entry into formal politics came while he was attached to the court of the sultan of Tadjoura, where he met Mahmoud Harbi, a leading nationalist and vice president of the Governing Council of French North Western State of Somalia during World War II. Bourhan later joined the territorial council and supported Harbi’s push for independence. Harbi was exiled by French authorities to Cairo, where he died two years later in a plane crash under circumstances that were never fully explained.

After Djibouti won independence in 1977, Bourhan withdrew from politics and turned to business, largely avoiding the public spotlight. Those who knew him later in life described him as calm and approachable. “He was a refined and courteous man,” Kheire said. “He had a strong personality and good character.”

Ali Aref Bourhan’s death closes a defining chapter in Djibouti’s modern history, shaped by colonial rule, political struggle and the construction of a new state.

With files from the BBC Somali Service.

By Ali Musa

Axadle Times international–Monitoring.