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A man buys the foliage drug khat on a street in Djibouti (archive image from December 2008)
Photo: Carsten Koall / Getty Images
Shortly after the midday prayer, a nervous tension settles over Djibouti City.
Men restlessly check their cell phones, acquaintances are called.
What's new?
Where are the vices?
Then the news: The khat has just passed the border from Ethiopia - the delivery should arrive in Djibouti's capital in an hour and a half.
In the small desert state in the Horn of Africa, the traditional drug khat has long since developed into an important industry.
Around 15 tons of the amphetamine-containing leaves are imported every day.
It is estimated that the trade in the stimulating plant contributes around five percent to the gross domestic product.
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Djibouti City: Capital of the small coastal state of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa
Photo: Mike Abrahams / Corbis / Getty Images
And since the beginning of the corona pandemic, the economic importance of khat has increased again.
Djibouti, one of the smallest countries in Africa with around one million inhabitants, thrives on trade and its strategically important location.
In recent years, the coastal state has managed to build some of the most modern ports in the region.
Above all, its large neighbor, the landlocked country of Ethiopia, with its around 110 million inhabitants is dependent on imports and exports via the ports of Djibouti.
However, due to the Corona crisis, trade has decreased significantly.
It has now become even more difficult to find a job in the port, in the transport sector and in industry.
According to the African Development Bank, unemployment was almost 40 percent even before the crisis began.
Her husband is also affected, says khat saleswoman Zainaba A ..
He works in the port.
Sometimes this, sometimes that, she says.
Who deserves more, she or her husband?
She prints, looks a little embarrassed at her colleagues at the neighboring stands.
She couldn't say anything about that.
That's yes, well, uh, well ... Does that mean she deserves more?
One last shy look at her friends, then she bursts proudly: “Of course!
Much more!
For years!"
She doesn't want her husband to feel it, she says.
But without the income from the khat business, her family could no longer survive.
The other women nod.
For many of them, a small extra income has turned into the majority of the family income.
Now it is often the men who earn money.
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Khat sales in Djibouti City: The trade in the legal drug is largely unaffected by the pandemic
Photo: MCT / Getty Images
And the crisis intensifies this dynamic.
Because unlike the rest of the economy, the khat trade is largely unaffected by the pandemic.
On the contrary, prices continue to rise - just like consumption, says Zainaba.
In fact, the khat trade in the region has weathered worse crises.
Even during the height of the civil wars in Yemen and Somalia, deliveries almost always arrived on time.
And that is crucial.
Because the small, leathery green leaves begin to lose their effectiveness around 24 hours after harvest.
Hence the daily nervousness around noon in Djibouti.
Zainaba is also tense now.
One of the trucks apparently had a problem en route.
She's on the phone, wants to know what happened.
The first customers are already coming.
The khat is not there yet?
Where exactly is the transport stuck?
The unrest is contagious and soon the whole neighborhood knows that the khat is late.
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Trader Zainaba A. with an armful of khat on the way to her stand
Photo: Benjamin Moscovici
To make things easier, about an hour later, all four trucks pull into a dusty parking lot, the central transshipment point in Djibouti.
Now the sacks are unloaded and packed into smaller cars.
Some rush to the port, where the khat is loaded onto speedboats and taken to the coastal towns in the north.
Others go to the different quarters of the capital.
Journalists are not welcome in these scenes.
The parking lot belongs to the company SOGIK, the Société Générale d'Importation de Khat, explains Monsieur Ouarabi, the two-meter-tall head of the company's security team.
And: "Anyone who sniffs around here messes with the devil."
An interview request is rejected by a senior manager of the company.
The reason: SOGIK moves in a legal gray area.
"But isn't khat completely legal in Djibouti?" - "Yes - but drug trafficking remains drug trafficking."
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Trucks with khat in Mogadishu (archive image)
Photo: Feisal Omar / REUTERS
In the meantime the courier has also arrived in the street from khat seller Zainaba.
The goods are distributed to the women in a small storage room.
There are probably around 2000 street vendors like Zainaba - the vast majority of them are women.
"Dealer" - that's such a harsh word, says Zainaba.
But it is not entirely wrong that khat is a drug.
She would never even touch the stuff herself.
She knows the harm the drug is causing.
In fact, for many women like Zainaba, khat is both the solution and the source of their financial problems.
Because what they earn with khat is lost again when men consume khat.
The World Bank estimates that the average household in Djibouti spends between 20 and 30 percent of its budget on khat.
More than for rent, education and health.
Only food comes before khat.
But what at first glance looks like a zero round could not only massively strengthen the role of many women in Djibouti in the long term, but also contribute to the country's development.
Experience from other developing countries shows that the larger the share of the family budget that is managed by women, the more money goes into education and health.
But the price is high: the World Bank assumes that the average "khatter" spends around seven hours a day chewing the narcotic leaves.
Almost a full day's work for the drug.
The economic loss is enormous.
Not to mention the social and health consequences.
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Khat seller: Consuming the plant can best be compared to chewing coca leaves.
After a few hours, however, the stimulating effect often gives way to deep indolence
Photo: Peter McBride / Aurora Photos / imago images
A ban on the drug is still not in sight.
Because the import company SOGIK is officially registered and pays taxes.
The state allegedly earns around six euros per kilo.
Neither the authorities nor the company provide precise information on the state-tolerated drug trade.
However, it is estimated that at least 15 percent of Djiboutian tax revenue comes from the trade in the folk drug.
The drug is probably by and large bad for the country, says saleswoman Zainaba.
But she could not allow herself to think deeply about such questions.
"I'm just grateful for the freedom that business gives me."
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