Anyone who has heard anything about the Sargasso Sea will have probably learned that it is unique among the planet’s seas in that it is completely bereft of any land boundaries and that it is full of seaweed. The boundaries of the sea are the four directional currents (N-S-E-W) which together create a clockwise-circulating system of ocean currents known as the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. This novel geographical oddity results in a clear, deep blue sea which is relatively warm and calm compared to the rest of the cold and often turbulent North Atlantic.
Sargasso Sea (old Dutch map)
The Sargossa’s seaweed is planktonic (ie, floating freely), a genus of seaweed called Sargassum—hence the source of the sea’s name which is thought to be of Portuguese origin (also cf. Sp. sargazzo (“kelp”)—a golden-brown-coloured algae which reproduces vegetatively on the surface and never attaches itself to the sea-bed floor during its lifecycles, which marks it out from the typical behaviour of seaweed on the high seas. The sargassum forms itself into concentrated patchesA⃣ which drift around the sea’s circumference while being ecologically beneficial to the local marine life – providing a habitat, sanctuary and food for turtles, shrimp, fish, porbeagle sharks, eels and the like.
image: National Ocean Service
Sargassum on steroids The Sargasso and its seaweed (more correctly gulfweed) has been much in the news recently due to increasing amounts of it washing up on the shores of beaches in eastern Mexico, Florida and the Caribbean, causing a nuisance to sunbathers, coastal dwellers and even a potential hazard, and happening earlier in the calendar year than in previous yearsB⃣. Marine scientists attribute the recent explosion of gulfweed (the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt) to human activities such as intensive soya farming in the Congo, the Amazon and the Mississippi, which dumps nitrogen and phosphorus into the ocean (Barberton 2023).
A carpet of pelagic sargassum covering the beach on the Barbados east coast (photo: H Oxenford)
Sargasso loreThe Columbus expedition on route to the East Indies (or so he thought) in 1492 gave us the first recorded sighting of the seaC⃣and navigators and sailors have been long been wary of the suspected dangers thought lurking in the mysterious sea…in fear of their vessel being permanently entrapped in its becalmed, windless waters (known as “the Doldrums”) or inextricably entangled in the ubiquitous brown belts of seaweed. Columbus and later navigators sought to transit through the sea by manoeuvring around the masses of seaweed, fearful as Columbus was that the algae mats concealed coral reefs that would wreck their ships.
Christopher Columbus (source: hoidla.spordimuuseum.ee/)
Eco-hazards: the North Atlantic garbage patch While the imagined threats to sailors and ships have not materialised over time, the real threats, aside from the runaway sargassum blooms, are those that are posed against the long-term health of the sea itself. Passing shipping has had a negative impact on the ecosystem of the Sargasso Sea. Storms and hurricanes transporting massive amounts of human-made pollution, followed by the characteristic stillness of the Sea, has made it susceptible to large-scale garbage accumulation, especially of microplastics (with volumes increasing exponentially the danger of increased plastic ingestion by marine life is a major concern). Other threats to the Sargasso come from climate change and overfishing of its waters. The future harvesting of sargassum seaweed is also a concern for marine biologists.
Sargassum floating on the Sargasso Sea (photo: David Doubilet/National Geographic)
Endnote: Bermuda Triangle intervention in the Sargasso circle? While the Sargasso Sea has no land borders, there is land in the form of the tiny Bermuda islands on the Sea’s western fringe. The intriguing nature of the Sea is further accentuated by association with Bermuda, or more specifically with its Bermuda Triangle reputation – a series of legends and mysteries that have grown up over the last century about a supposed abnormal pattern of aircrafts and ships disappearing without trace in the loosely-defined “Triangle” areaD⃣.
source: Shutterstock
Dimensions: the Sargasso Sea is elliptical in shape and encompasses an area of >1,000 mi in width and 3,000 mi in length; the Bermuda Triangle (aka Devil’s Triangle) is roughly 500,000 sq mi of water in a space bounded by Florida, Puerto Rico and Bermuda.
source: bibliotecapleyades.net
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A⃣ a “golden floating rainforest” (Dr Sylvia Earle)
B⃣ and not confined to the eastern side of the ocean, the media has reported the presence of giant sargassum blooms from West Africa right across to the Gulf of Mexico (‘The Aussie tackling an ocean-spanning seaweed monster’, Angus Dalton, Sydney Morning Herald, 26-April-2023, www.smh.com.au)
C⃣ though 4th century AD Roman writer Avienius referenced an ancient Carthaginian exploration of it that supposedly took place, and there were claims on behalf of Arab mariners from the 11th and 12th centuries
D⃣ critics have generally debunked the idea of the Bermuda Triangle as a nemesis, arguing that there is no evidence that mysterious disappearances occur more frequently there than on other well-frequented oceanic transit route, that the “phenomena” is a manufactured one, sustained by conspiracy theorists and media sensationalism
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟
Articles and other publications consulted
‘About the Sargasso Sea’, Sargasso Sea Commission, www.sargassoseacommission.org/
“S” is the 19th letter of the Latin alphabet. Pronounced [ess] the letter is a veritable wellspring of onomatopoeic worddom – (alliterative indulgence follows for effect) sizzling, screeching, slithering, swaying snakes alive! As with other entries in the sequence, the symbol corresponds to the Semitic sin (“tooth”). The cool shape of the Latin “S” came about from the Greek Σ (sigma) by dropping one out of the four strokes of that letter. The (angular) S-shape composed of three strokes existed as a variant of the four-stroke letter Σ already in the epigraphy in Western Greek alphabets, and the three and four strokes variants existed alongside one another in the classical Etruscan alphabet. Trust the ‘truscans to always bob up in the linguistic story somewhere! In other Italic alphabets (Venetic, Lepontic), the letter could be represented as a zig-zagging line of any number between three and six strokes. The lower-case “s” used to be rendered as ∫¹ (sometimes called a medial S or a “long-s”) and looking more like a fancy f sans the cross stroke) but this went of vogue in English sometime in the 18th century and was eventually phased out like pounds, shillings and pence. Neato!
____________________
¹ sometimes written with a slight cursive tilt to the left
<word> <meaning> <derivation>
Sabulous: sandy; gritty; growing in sandy places [L.sabulosus, from sabulum (“sand”)]
Saccadic: a rapid movement of the eye between fixation points; jerky; twitching [OldFr. saquer (“to pull”)]
Sadogue: fat; easy-going person (origin unknown))
Salsipotent: ruling the salt seas; having the power of/over the sea (ref. to Neptune, Roman god of the sea [L. salsipotentem (as if from salsum (“salt”), (a false reading for salipotentem, from salum (“salt water”) + -potentem (“potent”)]
Neptune, salsipotent of the seas (image: empirerome.com)
Sargasso: a mass of floating vegetation, especially sargassums (seaweed); gulfweed [from Port. sargaço (flowering plant related to the rockrose)] originally from L. salicastrum (“kind of wild vine found in willow-thickets”) ➾ Sargasso Sea (tract of still water with masses of thick seaweed in Nth Atlantic) ➾ which is prob. the source of Sargasso’s second meaning: a confused, tangled mess or situation]
Sarmassant: pertaining to sexual caressing or any such form of love-making (origin unknown) (cf. Sarmassate: to make love by handling, fondling or squeezing organs and tissues of a female)
Sartorial²: of or relating to a tailor or tailored clothes; (broadly) of or relating to clothes [L. sartor (“tailor”) + -ial]
Sarwan: a person who drives and guides a camel [Pers. sārwān, from sār (“camel”) + -wān (“keeping”; “guarding”)] 🐫
Satisfice: to aim for or achieve that which will suffice; (Heuristics) a decision-making strategy that aims for a satisfactory or adequate result, rather than the optimal solution [blend of satisfy and suffice]
Satrapess: A female satrap; an official who acts like a petty tyrant [from satrap Gk. satrápes, from OldPers.khshathapavan (literally “protector of the province”) + -ess]
Saturnalian: riotously merry or orgiastic; behaviour like the Saturnalia: an ancient Roman holiday/festival honouring Saturn, the god of seed-sowing, a time of jovial merrymaking with many social norms were relaxed and inverted; riotous merry-making [L. Saturn (Roman god of agriculture among other things)]
Scamander: to take a winding course; to meander [Gk.from Skamandros (also called Xanthos), a river god in Greek mythology. Origin uncertain ➠ poss. from skázō (“to limp”; “to stumble (over an obstacle)”) or from skaiós (“left(-handed”; “awkward”)]
Scamander River (Türkiye)
Scanderoon: homing pigeon (origin unknown)
Scansorial: relating to, capable of, or adapted for climbing [L. scansus + -orius -ory) + –al]
Scapegrace: an incorrigible rascal; a mischievous or wayward person, esp a child [Eng. scape (Literally) one who escaped the grace of god]
Scaphism: form of execution (alleged relating to ancient Persia) by covering someone in honey and abandoning him in the sun or leaving him tethered between two boats [Gk. skaph (“boat”) + -ism]
Scazon: : a classical verse with a limping or halting movement; limping verse [Gk. skázō (“I limp”)]
Schesis: deriding an opponent’s argument by referring to his or her way of thought; mocking the habitude of an adversary [Gk. skhésis, (“state”; “condition”; “attitude”)]
Schoenobatist: a tight-rope walker [origin unknown(?) poss. from MidDutch. schoe, (“shoe”; “footwear”)]
Schoenobatist
Sciapodous: having large feet [Gk. Skiapodes, from skia (“shadow”) + -pod-, -pous (“-foot”) + -ous] (cf. Sciapods: (aka Monopods) (Greek mythology) a tribe of one-legged, giant-footed Libyan (some references say Ethiopian or Indian) men whose foot was so big they could raise it in the air to provide shade against the hot southern sun)
Sciapodous: the Sciapods/Monopods
Scholarch: head of a school; (Hist.) the leader of an Athenian school of philosophy [LateGk. scholarchēs (“scholar”)] school 🏫
Scible: that which is knowable (origin unknown)
Scientaster: a petty or inferior scientist [L. sciēns (“knowing”), from sciō (“know”) + -aster] 👨🔬
Sclerotic: grown rigid or unresponsive especially with age; unable or reluctant to adapt or compromise; hardening (eg, of emotions) [Gk. sklērōtos, from sklēroun (“to harden”)]
Scoliotropism: a diminished desire to attend school [origin uncertain(?), Gk. skoliós (“crooked”) + –tropḗ, (“turn”); “solstice”; “trope”) + -ism] ✎ᝰ.📖
Scolist: (someone) who pretends to have more knowledge than they really do; a superficial show of learning [LateLat. sciolus (“smatterer”; “pretender to knowledge” from L. scius “possessing knowledge”; “expert”) derivative of scīre (“to know”) —perhaps as back-formation from nescius (“ignorant”)— + –ist]
Scopophile: a person whose sexual pleasure is derived from watching others in a state of nudity, undressing, or engaging in sexual activity; (Psych.) one with a sexual dependency on openly observing genitalia and sexual acts (distinguished from a voyeur who watches in secret) [Gk. skopós, “watcher”) + -phile] 👁️👁
Scortation: fornication; lewdness [L. scorṯarī (“to consort with or like a harlot”)]
Scriniary: archives-keeper; archivist [from L. scriniarius “keeper of the scrinium” (“chest or box for keeping books, papers, letters”, etc)]
Scriniary: on the records (source: planitplus.net)
Scriptory: by, in or pertaining to writing [L. scriptorius, from scriptus, scribere (“to write”) + -orius (“-ory”)] (cf. Scripturient: having a violent desire to write) 📝 ✍️
Scurrier (also sp. Scurriour): a scout (origin unknown, possibly French)
Sebastomania: religious insanity [Gk. sebastos, “reverenced”; “mania”; madness”) + -mania]
Sectiuncle: a little or petty sect [nebulous etymology: L. secare (“cut”)(?) + –uncle (“small”; “little”)]
Secundogeniture: custom where second-oldest child inherits property; a dependent territory given to a younger son of a princely house and his descendants [L. secundus (“following”; “second”) + –genitus (“born”)] (cf. Tertiogeniture: third-oldest child is a beneficiary (rarely applied))
Sederunt: sitting of an ecclesiastical court (in Scotland); gathering; long discussion (cf. Sedent: seated or inactive) [L. from sedēre (“to sit”)]
Sedulous: accomplished with careful perseverance (craftsmanship); diligent in application or pursuit [L. sedēre (“meaning”; “to sit”) + -ous]
Selenic: of, like or pertaining to the Moon [Gk. selḗnē, (“moon”)] 🌒
Semelincident: (of a disease or ailment) occurring only once in the same individual [[L. semel, (“once”), + -incido, (“to happen”), from cado, (“to fall”)] (cf. Semelparous: reproducing only once in its lifetime)
Sempervirent: evergreen; always fresh [L. semper (“always”) + –virent, -virēre (“to be green”)]
Sempiternal: of never-ending duration; eternal [L. from semper + –æternus (“eternal”)]
Sempster: (also Seamster) a man who sews; tailor [OldEng. seamestre “sewer”; “tailor”; ”person whose work is sewing”)]
Senectitude: old age [L. senectus (“aged”; “old age”), senex (“old”)] (cf. Senectuous: very old)
Senient: conscious; perceiving; able to perceive or feel things [L. sentient-, sentiens, (“to perceive”; “feel”)]
Septentrional: to the north; northern [L. From septem (“seven”) + –triō (“plow”; “ox”)]
Septimanal: weekly [L. septi- + -manal(?)]
Sequacious: ready to follow a leader or authority; (pliant) compliant; tractable [L. sequac-,sequax– (“inclined to follow”) from sequi, (“to follow”) + -ous]
The sequacious will inherit a leader (photo source: esquire.com)
Seraglio: harem [It. serraglio, modification of Turkish saray (“palace”)]
Sermuncle: a little sermon [L. sermo, sermonis—serĕre, (“to join”) + –uncle]
Sesquipedalian: (of a word) polysyllabic, long [L. sesquipedalia verba (“words a foot and a half long”) from sesqui- (“one and a half times”)]
Sexdigitated: (Med.) six-fingered or -toed [L. sex, six, + -digitus, finger or toe]
Sexotropic: obsessed with sex [L. sexus + –tropḗ]
Shenango: a casually employed dock worker [probably from the Chenango river and canal in south-central New York state]
Shunamitism: (Med./Psych.)) the rejuvenation of an old man by sleeping with a young woman, although not necessarily having sex with her [from Hebrew. Shunem (small village mentioned in the Pentateuch) + -ite]
Sialoquent: spitting or emitting saliva excessively while speaking [blend of sialic + –eloquent, from Gk. (“síalon”; “spittle”; “saliva”)]
Sibylline: characteristic of a sibyl (a pagan female oracle); prophetic; oracular; mysterious [Gk. Síbulla + -ine]
Sibylline: a matter of sybils
Sicarian: murderer; assassin (origin unknown)
Siffleur: whistler, esp an animal (such as the whistling marmot) that makes a whistling noise [Fr. siffler (“to whistle”) + -eur -or] (cf. Siffilate: to talk in a whisper)
Signate: distinct; distinguished; designated; identified; having markings like letters [L signatus, signare (“to mark”; “seal”; designate”)]
Significs: (Semiotics.) science of meaning [L. from significare (“to indicate”; “signify”) from signum (“sign”)]
Sillograph: one who writes satires; a satirist [Gk. from Sílloi (satirical poem) of Timon of Phlius, (circa 280BC) + -graph; etymology uncertain, poss. relating to “silhouette”]
Simous: having a flat; upturned nose [L. simus (“snub-nosed”)]
Skoptsy: self-castration [from Rus. skopets (“castrate”) (the Skoptsy were a Christian Spiritualist sect during the Russian Empire who practised male castration and female mastectomy in accordance with their beliefs]
Smellfungus: a person who finds faults with everything; a grumbler; a complainer [after Smelfungus, a hypercritical traveler in Laurence Sterne’s 1768 novel A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy]
Smellfungus
Sociogenesis: origin of human societies[NewLat. from socio- + L. genesis]
Soldatesque: soldierlike; soldierly [from It. soldatesco]
Somnambulist: a person who walks about in their sleep; a sleepwalker [from L. somnus (“sleep”) + –ambulō (“to walk”)] (cf. Somniloquent: someone who talks in their sleep) (cf. Somnophile: someone who’s sexually aroused by the sight of sleeping or unconscious people) (cf. Somnifacient: sleep-inducing ⟺ Somnorific: causing sleep; soporific)
Soubrette: coquettish and intriguing maid; a female theatrical role in opera and drama [from L. superare (“be above”)]
Spadassin: swordsman; fighter [from It. spadaccino (“swordsman”)]
Zorro was a master spadassin
Specious: superficially plausible but actually wrong; having deceptive attraction or allure [L.speciosus, (“beautiful”); “plausible,”)]
Sphairist: (cf. Sphairistikè: game that evolved into “tennis”) tennis-player [Gk. sphairistike techne, (“the skill of playing with a ball” (coined by Maj. Walter Wingfield (1874) inventor of a form of modern tennis incorporating aspects of earlier ball and racket games Badminton and Rackets)
Sphairist: Lawn tennis player from the pioneering era (photo source: Getty Images)
Splenetic: bad-tempered; malevolent; spiteful [L. splen, (“bodily organ responsible for storing and filtering blood”)]
Stagiary: a resident canon; a law student [MedLatin. stagium, estagium (“term of residence”) + –arius (“ary”)]
Stallenger: (Hist.) keeper of a markets stall (Scotland (18th.) [OldScots. stallangear, from O.Fr. estalagier, (“one who pays stallage, a stall-tax at a fair”)]
Stasiology: study of political parties [Gk. stasis (“faction”; “discord”) + -ology]
Sthenolagnia: sexual arousal from displays of strength or muscles [Gk. sthénos (“moral or emotional strength”; “might”; “power”)+ -lagnia (“lust”)]
Stochastic: of, like or pertaining to a sequence of random events; having a random probability distribution [Gk. stochastikos (“skillful in aiming”) from stochazesthai (“to aim at”; “guess at”) from stochos (“target”; “aim”; “guess”)] 🎲
Stomatiferous: having an orifice or mouth [Gk. stóma (“mouth”) + –ferous (“bearing”)]
Storiograph: writer of folk tales [LateLat. storia from L. historia (“history”; “account”; “tale”; “story” (+ Gk. –graphia (“writing”)]
Stratocrat: a military ruler; despot [Gk. stratos (“an army”)] (cf. Stratonic: of or relating to an army)
Struthious: of, relating to, or resembling the ostrich or related ratite birds [from Gk. strouthos (“ostrich”)] 𓅦
Suggilate: to beat until bruised [L. suggillo (“to beat until bruised”)]
Supernaculum: drink to the last drop; wine or alcohol so good you want to drink to the last drop; (Hist.) a drinking game [from L. super (“over”; “on”) + NewLat. nagulum, naculum (“nail”) from German nagel (“fingernail”)]🍷🗿
Sybarite: person devoted to pleasure and luxury; hedonist [Gk. Subarī́tēs, (“inhabitant of Sybaris (city in Magna Graecia (ancient Italy); (adj.) (“decadent”; “self-indulgent”)]
“Lux” lifestyles of the ancient Sybarites (image: calabria-mediterranea.tumblr.com/)
Symmachy: an alliance of disparate parties fighting jointly against a common enemy [Gk. sym (“with”) + –machy (“fight”)]
Symposiarch: (Hist.) master of a feast (Ancient Greece); a master of ceremonies [Gk. from symposium ➠ sumpósion, (“drinking party”) + -arch] (cf. Symposiast: someone engaged in banqueting and merrymaking with others; a fellow-drinker)
² “Sartorial”, specifically the phrase “sartorial elegance” became such a cliche in the 1970s that it almost doesn’t qualify to be a compendium of obscure and unusual words – except for the fact that its usage as a stock phrase has greatly diminished now
Djibouti is a moderately populated mini-state in the turbulent Horn of Africa region§, it’s contiguous neighbours, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia (including Somaliland), are all countries which tend to experience ongoing conflict and instability, as is Yemen, less than 30km away by sea across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Tiny Djibouti, comparatively, is open for business, and an oasis of stability, or so it seems to many interested foreign onlookers.
République de Djibouti 🇩🇯Size 23,200 sq km. Pop (est. 2023) 976,000 (image: Pinterest)
Position A, geopolitically speaking: Djibouti’s attraction to the US and other Western powers and more recently, to China, is location. The tiny African republic’s prized geo-strategic location intersects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, plumb in the middle of the vital shipping lane between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, which caters for the transit of 20,000 ships annually and accounts for 30% of world trade [Bereketeab, Redie. “Djibouti: Strategic Location, an Asset or a Curse?” Journal of African Foreign Affairs 3, no. 1/2 (2016): 5–18. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26661713.]🇦
Bab el-Mandeb, oil containers (source: Morocco World News)
Watching the “bad guys”, protecting the West’s interests: Since the 1991 Gulf War and especially since the 9/11 Twin Towers terrorist attack, Djibouti’s importance to the military and security objectives of the US and other world powers has grown exponentially. The imperatives of the “War on Terror” and the upsurge in Somalia-based piracy turned Western eyes to Djibouti, situated ideally at the choke-point on the Suez to Indian waterway as the optimal spot to monitor activity in the Middle East and “the Horn” [‘Port in the Desert: Djibouti as International Lessor’, Jessica Borowicz, Aether: Journal of Strategic Airpower and Spacepower, Vol. 1, No. 3, Fall 2022, www.airuniversity.af.edu]. Today, foreign navies utilise Djibouti’s ports as part of the EU’s anti-piracy operations in the region, the US has a semipermanent base at Camp Lemonnier, with around 4,000 military personnel. France, Germany, Italian, Spain and Japan also maintain bases on Djibouti soil under Djibouti’s “rent-a-space program”. China opened its first base in the country in 2017.
Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti (photo: Facebook)
The rentier state – the Guelleh regime as “big bickies” landlord: Acting as lessor of foreign bases has proved a particularly lucrative earner for the Djibouti government, dominated by authoritarian president Ismaïl Omar Guelleh and his PRP🇧regime. Rents of the bases yield Djibouti an estimated US$119–128m per annum. As noted, “for a country that produces nothing, the income from the military bases has been a lifeline” (Bereketeab), turning round the dire economic prognosis facing the country in the early 1990s.
Ethiopian trade, mutual interest and port leases: An added windfall for the government is the revenues it collects from port leases (Djibouti has seven major ports and terminals). Landlocked Ethiopia is one of its customers, having lost its coastal territory after Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Ethiopia then became further dependent on Djibouti cooperation following the Eritrea-Ethiopia War (1998-2000). Ethiopia since this time has been required to lease port facilities from Djibouti, with 90% of total Ethiopian trade channelled through this route. With a shared major railroad and a shared water pipeline Djibouti’s relations with Ethiopia have generally been good (cf. those with Eritrea which have been less harmonious).
Doraleh Multi-Purpose Port (photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images)
Djibouti’s prized non-tangible resources: A third source of revenue for Djibouti is the development aid it receives from donor countries, especially the US, France, other European countries and China. All of this cash inflow (rents + aid + loans) amounts to Djibouti having the largest per capita income in the Horn of Africa region (according to the IMF’s reckonings)🇨and a healthy 6.5% annual economic growth rate (Bereketeab).
French foreign legionnaires in Djibouti (photo: Julien Hubert/Armee de Terre)
Djibouti, a stamping ground for the US, France…and the PRC: US military analysts by and large see Djibouti as the best current option in the region for staging military bases, an “anchor of stability in a volatile region” (Borowicz), with some observers even viewing Djibouti as a “front-line state” of America (Bereketeab), so its clearly happy to pay the high tenancy fees. France, with its “small but mighty force” on-site [‘Inside France’s Small But Mighty Force in Djibouti’, Frédéric Lert, Key.Aero, 01-Aug-2022, www.key.aero] and an involvement with the East African microstate that stretches back over 130 years, no doubt agrees.🇩 And the Guelleh regime is certainly happy with its cut of the deal…with China entering the scene, suggesting a potential new theatre for US v PRC rivalry, Guelleh can play one patron off against another for increasingly higher stakes, he has “agency” in the game, which J-P Cabestan defines simply as “the ability of any country to make independent decisions and strengthen its bargaining power” [CABESTAN, JEAN-PIERRE. “African Agency and Chinese Power: The Case of Djibouti.” South African Institute of International Affairs, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep29586.]
China’s Djibouti military base (source: adr1682305408 Thanh, Flickr)
Djibouti a haven of stability?: But is Djibouti really as stable a state as many in the Pentagon seems to believe? President Guelleh for now keeps a tight rein on things internally in Djibouti, effective opposition to the PRP has been neutralised,🇪but what of the future? Below the surface there are a raft of variables that might threaten the status quo. The great mass of Djiboutians have gained virtually nothing from the massive injection of money into Djibouti’s treasury which remains firmly in the hands of Guelleh and his fellow Somali subclan cronies in the political elite. Ordinary citizens wallow in various stages of poverty with unemployment conservatively estimated at 60% but really higher. Disenfranchised, predominantly illiterate, facing the ever-likely possibility of food shortages and drought, for the young Djiboutians a future with little prospects, the further erosion of basic rights and freedom of expression by an authoritarian regime, a combination of these factors might propel the unprivileged masses to demand a real improvement in their lot and failing that, ultimately regime change [EELCO KESSELS, TRACEY DURNER, and MATTHEW SCHWARTZ. “Front Matter.” Violent Extremism and Instability in the Greater Horn of Africa: An Examination of Drivers and Responses. Global Center on Cooperative Security, 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep20264.1.]
Horn of Africa (map source: Nystrom Herff Jones Education Division)
Potential external destabilisers, a war-prone region and radical Islam: External factors could equally impact Djibouti’s stability, prompting a rethink by the lessees of the bases as a long-term option. Conflicts and civil wars emerging in Somalia, Eritrea or Ethiopia could spillover into Djibouti, eg, emanating from a sudden surge in refugee numbers.🇫 The affinity of Djibouti’s Issa Somalis and the Afars with their ethnic brothers and sisters respectively in Somalia and Eritrea could worsen this occurrence (Kessels et al).🇫It should also be remembered that Djibouti’s track record in avoiding conflict and violence is not a clean slate…in its relatively short existence the country has experienced civil war (1991-94) and a brief border conflict with Eritrea (2008), and the cause of the 1990s civil war—uneven power sharing by the Issa powerbrokers with the Afars—is an unresolved issue that continues to fester. A further threat of instability to Djibouti lies in the terrorist agenda of Al-Shabaab,🇬a jihadist fundamentalist organisation based in southern Somalia, which perpetrated a suicide bomber attack in Djibouti City in 2014 and has called on jihadists to target French and U.S. interests in Djibouti [Ahram Online (Egypt), 27-March-2021].
Djibouti women and children (source: aho.org)
A “Trojan Horse” for both sides? Maintaining full sovereignty amongst the mega-powers?: With both the US and China now heavily invested in Djibouti and each using it as a conduit to spread its geo-strategic influence, will an escalation of neo-Cold War rivalry played out here upset the balance in Djibouti? While foreign military forces being based indefinitely on Djibouti territory might provide reassurance to the country, there is a downside to Djibouti being completely dependent on big power external support and large foreign forces within its borders for it’s security and survival: Djibouti’s sovereign status as a free and independent nation is questionable…with a host of foreign patrons holding a significant share of the firmament the regime risks becoming compromised and losing support (Bereketeab). Most worrying (in US eyes) is the danger of Djibouti falling prey to “debt-trap diplomacy” due to it becoming over-dependent on China. Beijing is bankrolling many of Djibouti’s major infrastructure projects (water and gas pipelines, railroads, port upgrades, etc) big time! As a result, China has rapidly become the tiny African country’s major creditor (holding 91% of its external debt)(Borowicz; Cabestan). The upshot in the longer term is that the Guelleh PRP regime may end up being viewed by its own citizens as lacking legitimacy, a further pathway to internal turbulence and instability and enforced change.
Xi Zinping hosting Pres. Guelleh (“let’s do business!”) (photo: chinadaily.com.cn)
§ “Djibouti” in the native Afar language means “boiling pot”, an apt name for the country’s hot and arid, sub-tropical desert climate
🇦 around 6.2 million barrels of crude oil per day passed thru the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in 2018 (Borowicz)
🇧People’s Rally for Progress, which has provided both presidents of Djibouti since independence from France in 1977 – Guelleh, preceded by his elderly uncle, Hassan Gouled Aptidon
🇨in an impoverished “Horn” that is of itself not saying a lot
🇩to the tune of a hefty US$720m injection annually
🇪although opposition parties are now legal, all the political cards are stacked in PRP’s favour, opponents has been ruthlessly suppressed, driven into exile or co-opted into the ruling camp
🇪unfortunately it’s always on the cards that Yemen given its perpetual state of civil war could see upsurges in refugee numbers fleeing across the strait
🇫a revival of the earlier Somali “ethno-nationalism”—an attempt to unite all ethnic Somalis from the different East African countries into one Pan-Somali state—could also have a destabilising outcome
“R” is the 18th letter of the modern Latin Alphabet. It corresponds to the ancient Semiticresh and is perhaps derived from an earlier hieroglyph representing a human head. From the Egyptian symbol the letter evolved into a triangular flag shape and then to a rounded “P” under Greek influence, before the descending, angled stroke of “R” was added in the 3rd century BC, giving the letter the form we recognise today. The standard English pronunciation is ar. R-words can be fun and surprising – “r” is the letter of the dictionary we turn to when we decide to open the dictionary at random! Or they can be positive and uplifting – why else would we describe a day that signifies a special significance or opportunity to us as a “red-letter day”?
<Word> <Meaning> <Derivation>
Rabelaisian: coarsely humorous; bawdy; ribald [after Francois Rabelais, (16th cent. French writer and satirist]
Rabelaisian: Rabelais’ most famous comic novels (Gargantua and Pantagruel)
Rebus: picture puzzle representing a word (a combination of a picture and an individual letter prompts a particular word) [from L. res (“thing”)]
Rebus: (playbill.com)
Reciprocornous: (Zool.) having horns that turn backward and then forward (like a ram’s) [L. poss. from re- (“back”), prō(“forwards”) and -que (“and”)╰┈➤ (“back and forth”) + -ous]
Recondite: out of the way; little known or obscure; difficult or impossible for one of ordinary understanding or knowledge to comprehend [L. from recondere, [“to conceal”)]
Rectigrade: moving or proceeding in a straight line or course [L. rectus (“straight”) + -gradus (“step”)]
Rectopathic: one who is easily hurt emotionally [L. rectus + –pathic (“suffering”)]
Recumbent: lying down; representing a person (or effigy) lying down [L. re– (“back”; “again”) + -cumbere, “to lie down”]
Recumbentibus: a knockout blow, either verbal or physical [L. recumbent-, recumbens + -ibus (?)] 🥊
Resipiscent: (Literary) acknowledgment that one has been mistaken; to learn from experience and have one’s sanity restored; a change of mind or heart (often prompting a return to a sane, sound, or correct view or position) [LateLat. resipiscere (“to recover one’s senses”; from L. “sapere (“to know”)]
Redact: edit for publication, esp censoring or obscuring part of a text for legal or national security reasons [L. redigō (“to lead back, collect, prepare, reduce to a certain state”)] (cf. Redactophobe: someone who has a fear of editing or editors)
Redact: the editor strikes through ✍️ (photo: alamy)
Remontado: a person who lives in the forest or mountains and avoids civilisation [Spanish. remontado (“to flee or go back to the mountains”)]
Rittmaster: captain of a troop of horse (cavalry) [part. transltn. of German rittmeister, from ritt (“troop of horsemen”) from reiten (“to ride”), from Old High German rītan + -meister (“master”)]
Rittmaster
Rixatrix: a scolding or quarrelsome woman; a common scold [L. rixārī (“to quarrel”) + –trix (Latinate fem. agent noun)]
Rurigenous: one who has been born in the country [L. rus, ruris (“the country”) + –genere, –gignere (“to bring forth”; “to be born”)]
Rusticate: go, live in the country for a time; live a rustic life [L. rūsticor (“live in the countryside”)] (cf. Rusticity: rustic manner; simplicity; rudeness)
Ruth: (also Ruthful) a feeling of pity, distress or grief [Hebrew. Ruth (“friend” or “companion”) Biblical figure (Old Testament)]
