[citation needed] At the same time, in 1991, neighboring countries' authoritarian governments were overthrown, Siad Barre in Somalia and Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia.

At the beginning of October 1991, the rebel organisation Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD), calling for greater political participation of Afar, launched a guerrilla struggle against the government.

To wash away the affront, the FRUD launched, on the 21 November 1991, an assault of the town of Obock and its garrison, but after a long day of fierce fighting the Djiboutian soldiers crushed them.

Throughout the war, the fighting was mainly in the north of the country with the exception of the incident in the capital, when on 18 December 1991 government troops entered the area Arhiba inhabited by the Afar, and opened fire on crowds of people.

[8] The government responded by increasing its armed forces from about 5,000 to 20,000 men and called up its reserves, and received support from France in the form of some military equipment.

The population living in the area of the clashes, about 70,000 civilians, were forced to leave their homes as well as another 30,000 refugees beyond the borders with Eritrea and Afar Region of Ethiopia.

On April 9, 1999, Ismail Omar Guelleh was elected new president of Djibouti; the time was ripe for a political solution to the conflict, and in March 2000 Ahmed Dini returned from his exile in Yemen to start contacts with the new government: on May 12, 2001 a definitive peace agreement was signed, and the last guerrillas of the FRUD laid down their arms to be reintegrated into normal Djiboutian political life.

Ahmed Dini came to the legislation elections in January 2003 to lead the opposition party Alliance Républicaine pour le Développement, but was defeated by the RPP-FRUD coalition which supported Ismail Omar Guelleh.