Dikhil

Dikhil دخيل
—  Town  —
Dikhil دخيل Location in Djibouti
Coordinates: 11°07′N 42°22′E / 11.117°N 42.367°E / 11.117; 42.367
Country	Djibouti
Region	Dikhil
Elevation	484 m (1,588 ft)
Population
- Total	12,043

Dikhil is a town in the western Dikhil Region of Djibouti. Lying east of Lake Abbe, it is located on the paved highway that runs east from Djibouti City. The town is home to a population of around 12,043 people.

History

When Wilfred Thesiger visited Dikhil in May 1934, he was struck by "a most impregnable fort here" recently constructed by the French colonial authorities. "The walls are twenty feet high, loop-holed, and topped with broken glass and a barbed-wire entanglement. There are two large observation towers." He believed that garrison stationed there provided its only economic support, for had "the site any real value it would have been used before this by the natives."^[1]

Following the conclusion of the 1977-1978 Ogaden War, Dikhil, along with Ali Sabieh, accommodated three quarters of the 8,000 Issa Somalis who had fled Ethiopia.^[2]

This is a map of Dikhil

Notes

1. ^ Wilfred Thesiger, The Danakil Diary: Journeys through Abyssinia, 1930-4 (Hammersmith: Flamingo, 1996), p. 184.
2. ^ Jeff Crisp, "The Politics of Repatriation: Ethiopian Refugees in Djibouti, 1977-83", Review of African Political Economy, No. 30, Conflict in the Horn of Africa, (September, 1984), p. 74

External links

• Satellite map at Maplandia.com
• [1]

Coordinates: 11°07′N 42°22′E / 11.117°N 42.367°E / 11.117; 42.367