IRON MAIDEN is the only rock band with its own private jet.
And who do you think is the pilot?
Yes, nobody else but their lead singer, Bruce Dickinson.
And oh do few people deserve more admiration than Mr. Dickinson.
If it wasn’t enough to be one of the most successful heavy metal singers in history,
he’s also an
experienced commercial pilot, a radio host, a writer, an entrepreneur AND the CEO of one
the most
innovative aviation companies.
And now you might wonder…
Why are we talking about Bruce Dickinson on VisualPolitik?
What does Iron Maiden have to do with politics?
Well…
IRON MAIDEN Singer BRUCE DICKINSON's CARDIFF AVIATION Signs On To Manage National Carrier
For Djibouti
Cardiff Aviation is a company that provides maintenance to airline companies.
We could say that Iron Maiden has landed in Djibouti but, in this case, they didn’t
come to perform.
They came to sell airplanes, train the pilots and design a system so that Djibouti can have
its own
airlines.
But wait a minute because this is the really important thing!
You might think the airlines of a country like Djibouti aren’t a big deal, right?
We’re talking about a poor country, located in the Horn of Africa, with a population of
less than a
million inhabitants.
However… what if I told you that Djibouti has a big chance of becoming the new DUBAI?
What if Bruce Dickinson is one of the first visionaries to decide to invest in this country?
Think about it while you look at this map.
Here it is.
DJIBOUTI.
This here is the SUEZ CANAL and this is the RED SEA.
Any oil tanker who wants to go from ABU DHABI to Europe must go through here.
All of those Chinese mobile phones sold in the UK travel through this area.
1 out of 10 ships that sail the planet are passing in front of the Djiboutian costs.
But make no mistake, this is not a quiet region.
In fact, the opposite is true.
Have you ever heard of the Somali pirates?
Well, this is Somalia.
And this country, Eritrea, isn’t a chill place either.
And this other place you see on the map… this is called Yemen as is in the-middle-of-a-civil-war
Yemen.
So as it turns out, Djibouti is the only peaceful country in the whole region!!!
But hold on a minute because there’s still more!!!
If you’ve been following VisualPolitik for a long time, you should already know that
Ethiopia is one of
the fastest growing countries on the planet.
They are becoming a textile superpower.
And they have more than 90 million inhabitants.
And guess what!
Ethiopia has no coast!
This means, whenever they want to sell their textiles, they have to do so through the Djibouti
port.
And yes, I know what you’re thinking now.
Are we really talking about a new Singapore or Dubai or is there something missing here?
Should we be like Bruce Dickinson and start investing in Djibouti?
Today we are going to answer those questions but before we do, let’s take a look back
at history.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!
After everything I said about Djibouti, many of you might be thinking how it’s possible
that we haven’t
heard of this country before, right?
The answer lies in their history, which is no different from their neighbours.
In the year 1977, after a peaceful referendum, Djibouti became the latest country to gain
independence
from their French colonizers.
And just as it happened in similar cases, Djibouti became a one party dictatorship.
Until the 90s, Mr. HASSAN GOULED APTIDON and the other members of his tribe controlled
the fate of this
country.
Torturing members of the opposition became a common practice and the ruling party got
rich off of the
port’s profits.
Back then, you could say Djibouti was a textbook example of a GATE-KEEPER STATE.
You see, in such poor countries, the whole economy is dependent on just one thing.
In the case of Equatorial Guinea, for instance, that thing is oil.
In the case of Djibouti, it’s the port.
Since the dictators have no money to pay a big army to control the whole country, they
must focus all
their oppressive powers in the areas where the money is.
So Djibouti’s port was completely secured while the rest of the country was in total
chaos, with murders
on the streets, rape and all kinds of other crimes.
As you can imagine, this is not the ideal situation to create companies or attract foreign
investment.
Now add in the fact that, in the 90s, a civil war started between the Government and the
opposition
parties and tribes.
AND this is where the first difference between
Djibouti and the rest of their neighbours comes in.
The way the government solved their problem was surprising to everyone.
Basically, after years of bloody fighting and thousands of killings on both sides of
the battle, Mr. APTIDON
went to the other party, the so-called, “Front for the Restoration of Unity and
Democracy”, and
told them ‘Hey fellas!
Get a grip, there’s money for everyone here!
Why don’t we share it so we can stop
fighting each other!?’
And this is how Djibouti got its first Unity Government: A government that combined most
of the local
political parties.
Of course, there’s still political opposition in Djibouti.
But they can hardly make campaigns and anytime there are presidential elections, they’re
boycotted.
This explains why APTIDON and, later on, his nephew, OMAR GUELLEH, win the elections with
outcomes close
to 100% of the vote.
Yes, very democratic, right?
But this is just the beginning!
Despite the internal fights, by the year 2001, Djibouti was still a very corrupt country
with a very weak
position.
Think about it… we are talking about a very small country, with less than 1 million inhabitants,
placed
in the middle of one of the most violent regions on the planet.
Next to them there’s SOMALIA, which is, virtually, an anarchy where different tribes
are constantly at
each other’s throats.
On the other side, we have ERITREA, a dictatorship that makes North Korea look like Sweden.
And in the South there’s Ethiopia, the biggest regional power and one who, at any moment,
would be happy
to invade Djibouti so they can have the coast line.
So, in summary, they were far from being in a quiet situation.
But then, when everything seemed to be
against them, history decided to give Djiboutians a break.
“Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and everyone who supports them”
All of a sudden, America, with George W Bush as their president, declared war on terrorismo.
This meant sending troops to all the areas with Al Qaeda cells.
Which includes, of course, the Horn of Africa.
And is there any better place for building military bases than Djibouti?
It has a peerless location and a government that, corrupted as it is, congratulates itself
for being
stable and having no ties with terrorist groups.
Do you remember when I told you that the Red Sea is extremely dangerous for merchant ships?
From the CAMP LEMMONIER base, American troops can chase those Somali pirates.
And not only the Americans!
In just 10 years, the list of countries who have installed military bases in Djibouti
is never-ending.
We can find French, Italian and Spanish troops there.
The only place where Japan has a military base abroad is Djibouti.
And, as you can imagine, with so many world powers having a military presence here…
China should come
into the picture too!
China opens first overseas base in Djibouti
And, of course, in such a poor and small country, having so many foreign armies is a great deal.
Think about it, all those soldiers need to eat somewhere, do their shopping and have
some fun.
This means lots of jobs and money for the whole country.
And on the top of it, this solves the biggest problem Djibouti had for investment.
With so many military bases in the country, only a wacko would dare to invade them.
In fact, there are few places in Africa that are safer than Djibouti nowadays.
Add to this the perfect situation for international trade routes and you can easily understand
why this
country has been growing at a 5% annual rate since the day American troops put their boots
on the ground.
But as you might have guessed, not everything is so wonderful here.
Despite its recent growth, Djibouti still has an unemployment rate higher than 50%.
Yep, you heard that right, 1 out of 2 Djiboutians has no stable job.
In other words, these airlines that Bruce Dickinson helped create are just sending soldiers
and people
from NGOs that travel to places like Somalia or Ethiopia.
But wait a minute because the times are changing in Djibouti!
A MAN AND HIS VISION
Remember this name, ILYAS MOUSSA DAWALEH.
Do you think he’s their new President?
Oh!
No!
No way!
Djibouti has kept the same President for the past 20 years.
This man is the Minister of Economy and Finance.
But, in this case, the finance minister is even more famous than the president.
We needed to plan over a longer period.
We accept that we will probably not be able to achieve all our
objectives during the current administration, but Vision 2035 clearly sets out the aspirations
of the
President and his government --ILYAS MOUSSA DAWALEH.
If you’ve been following VisualPolitik for a long time, this Vision 2035 thing will remind
you of
something…
Do you remember this video where I told you about Rwanda’s road out of poverty?
Yes, this Vision 2035 is a carbon copy of Rwanda’s plan in many aspects.
The Djiboutian government wants their ports to have state of the art technology just like
those of
Singapore and Dubai but, for this, they need money.
But not only that!
Dawaleh knows that, in order to make the economy work, you need to diversity it.
If a country only relies on one industry, a single small crisis could easily be its
downfall.
Then again, if you wanna diversify your economy, you still need money and a business friendly
environment.
And… corruption and lack of rule of law are seldom friends of businesses and foreign
investment.
And in these areas, Djibouti has a gold medal.
For example, despite the port being the main economic driver in this country, nobody can
see the
accounting books.
This means many Government officials are getting rich without anyone knowing.
If this wasn’t enough, part of the local legislation is based on SHARIA LAW.
And nobody can even protest this because Djibouti is among the 10 countries with the least freedom
of
speech in the entire world.
Just in 2016, the Government sent 3 BBC journalists to jail because they wanted to talk about
the
electoral fraud.
As you can imagine, this is hurting this country’s opportunities.
And what’s worse… it is almost impossible to change the system!
At the end of the day, the ruling class is already making enough money from the port
and the rent they
get from all of those foreign armies.
And they have enough security to not be scared of a popular uprising.
In other words, if MOUSSA DAWALEH, the Djiboutian finance minister, wanted to change the political
system, and, as he says on his Vision 2035 paper, ‘improve the governance of the country’
he has an
impossible job… right?
Well, my dear viewers, sometimes, miracles happen.
Djibouti breaks ground on massive Chinese-backed free trade zone
In other words: if you can’t change the whole political system in the entire country,
just change it in a
little part of it.
In this special economic zone, everyone can buy property and build without having to wait
months and
months to get Government permission.
This makes it harder for government officials who want to get bribes.
On the other hand, all the regulations will follow Chinese law.
This is short of a little Shenzhen in the middle of the country.
The agreement calls for the zone to handle $7 billion in trade within two years.
Djibouti will create a
unified customs system with China, establish a transit trade centre and set up a currency
clearing system
So what can we expect now?
Well, the idea of making special economic zones is nothing new.
And it’s been proven to work.
In fact, this is the system that let Dubai become the big metropolis it is today.
The idea is that, when you have a special economic zone, both the citizens and the political
elite can
see firsthand what happens when you have transparent laws and a good framework for companies.
If this experiment works, politicians will be more willing to implement real changes
in Djibouti.
In summary, we have an African country where security is granted by foreign armies and
who is starting to
apply serious reforms.
A country with the perfect location and size to become a financial and logistical centre
in one of the
busiest areas on the planet.
It seems Mr. Dickinson found a virgin paradise for investment, doesn’t it?
But hold on just a second because this does not mean Djibouti is going to become a Freedom
and Human
Rights haven!
At the end of the day, neither China nor Dubai are such havens either.
But this can be, at least, the beginning of the end of poverty in the region.
SO now the question is…
Do you think these positive predictions will become true?
Is this a good time to invest in Djibouti or will it all amount to nothing more than
hopeful predictions?
Please, leave your answer in the comment section below.
And if you wanna know why Dubai is so rich, click this video.
Here’s a spoiler!
It has nothing to do with
oil!
Also don’t forget to visit our friends from RECONSIDER MEDIA PODCAST, the podcast that
provided the
voices on this video that are not mine.
And don’t forget that we publish brand new videos every Monday and every Thursday so,
hit that SUBSCRIBE
button and you won’t miss a single post.
If you liked this video, give us a thumbs up and, as always,
I’ll see you next time.