FALSE: Djibouti’s President Guelleh is not dead
President Ismail Omar Guelleh returned to Djibouti on 29 September 2024.
These posts on Facebook claiming that Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh passed away in Paris, France, due to a critical illness in September 2024, are FALSE.
The Somali text accompanying the post read, “Breaking News: The President of Djibouti has died in a hospital where he was treated in the last few days. May Allah have mercy on him”.
The claim comes after President Guelleh missed the 2024 United Nations General Assembly session in New York and other home public events.
A keyword search on X led to the country’s Minister of Economy and Finance, Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh’s post, confirming that President Guelleh had an issue with his right knee. He dismissed claims that Guelleh was in critical condition.
The Federation of Somali Journalists (FESOJ) conducted a further keyword search on Facebook and found that President Guelleh posted images of his return to Djibouti from France on 29 September 2024.
Radio Television of Djibouti (RTD) also uploaded a video of the return on YouTube on 29 September 2024, titled “President Guelleh returns to the country, following a private trip abroad.”
A Google reverse image search also revealed that the image appeared in a 3 February 2016 article by The East African titled ‘China to start work soon on naval base in Djibouti, president says.’
Federation of Somali Journalists (FESOJ) has looked into Facebook posts claiming that Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh passed away in Paris, France, due to a critical illness in September 2024, and found it to be FALSE.
This fact-check was produced by Federation of Somali Journalists (FESOJ) under the African Fact-Checking Incubator programme, with support from PesaCheck, Code for Africa’s fact-checking initiative, and the African Fact-Checking Alliance(AFCA).
