A Belgian-Djiboutian opposition politician, Moustapha Ahmed Ali, was still in detention in Djibouti on Tuesday after being arrested on Saturday on arrival at the country's airport, according to the International Federation of Human Rights, IFHR.
Ali, who lives in Belgium, is the European Coordinator of the Mouvement pour le Renouveau Démocratique et le Développement (MRD). He had travelled to Djibouti to see his family, the IFHR and the Djibouti Human Rights League, LDDH, said in a joint statement.
"Moustapha Ahmed Ali was arrested as he came off the plane and is still in detention," whereas the legal limit is 48 hours, the IFHR said, deploring "yet another arbitrary arrest of a political opponent."
"No explanation has been given to justify his detention," the NGO said, adding that Ali has not been given access to a lawyer or a doctor and that his family is unable to visit him. "It all looks like a politically motivated detention," it added.
Djibouti is an oasis of stability in a troubled region that attracts the interest of the world's major powers. It currently hosts Chinese, French and US military bases.
The ruling party scored an overwhelming and unsurprising victory at legislative elections in late February, boycotted by the main opposition parties.
Parties that did not take part in the February elections include the MRD which, the IFHR recalled, had been dissolved in 2008. The authorities prevented the MRD from re-registering despite a call by the UN Human Rights Committee for it to be allowed to do so.
In mid-March, the IFHR had announced the arrest and expulsion from Djibouti of its vice-president and one of its programme officers, and had asked the authorities to provide explanations.
Their mission had been to report on the situation of human rights advocates in the Horn of Africa country, according to the IFHR.
