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Djibouti signed the Artemis Accords on 14 September 2026 at NASA Headquarters in Washington. It is the 72nd country to sign and the eighth from Africa.
Ambassador Mohamed Siad Douale signed for Djibouti. NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson and US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Frank Garcia were present.
Djibouti started its national space programme in 2020 under the Centre for Studies and Research of Djibouti (CERD). Its satellites Djibouti 1A (2023) and Djibouti 1B (2024) were launched on Falcon 9 rockets.
Djibouti sits on the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait in the Horn of Africa, which makes it strategically important and home to several foreign military bases, including China's first overseas base.
A non-binding set of principles, not a treaty. They cover peaceful exploration, transparency, interoperability, emergency assistance, registering space objects, sharing scientific data, avoiding harmful interference and protecting heritage sites in space.
The binding UN treaty the Accords build on. It bars national appropriation of celestial bodies and keeps space for peaceful use. India is a party.
Djibouti lies on the north-east coast of the Horn of Africa, on the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. It sits where the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and East African rift systems meet. Because it overlooks a major shipping chokepoint, it hosts foreign bases, among them the US base at Camp Lemonnier and China's PLA Support Base (opened 2017), China's first overseas base.
Runs the Artemis programme and co-leads the Accords with the US State Department
Runs Djibouti's national space programme, launched in 2020
GS Paper I > World physical geography (Horn of Africa); GS Paper III > Space technology; GS Paper II > International agreements
General Awareness > International; World geography
Non-binding principles (2020) led by the US for the civil exploration and use of the Moon, Mars, comets and asteroids
Strait between Yemen and Djibouti/Eritrea linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden
Salt lake in Djibouti, about 155 m below sea level; the lowest point in Africa