Djibouti evicts US vote group ahead of election

NAIROBI, Kenya – The U.S. election monitoring group Democracy International says Djibouti's government has kicked the group out of the country less than a month before the nation's presidential election.

Democracy International's Chris Hennemeyer said the government accused the group of assisting opposition politicians. He denied the allegations.

Djibouti is a tiny East African nation that hosts the only U.S. military base in Africa.

The country is nominally democratic, but events leading up to the April 8 election appear to show a hardline approach by President Ismail Omar Guelleh at a time when democracy movements are upending presidents.

Opposition politicians are boycotting the vote. They say the president is repressing dissent.