Khat Corner

Djiboutians are consumers of a mild intoxicant, khat, which is imported from Ethiopia. Khat is the most significant commodity consumed in Djibouti, with some estimates suggesting it accounts for 40 percent of household expenditure.

Khat leaves are from a shrub that is cultivated primarily in East Africa and the Arabian peninsula. Although they be used as a form of currency, khat leaves are most commonly chewed. Chewed in moderation, khat alleviates fatigue and reduces appetite. Compulsive use may result in manic behavior with delusions or paranoia, sometimes accompanied by halluncinations.

Khat-related violence is often prompted by late khat deliveries and the disagreements among dealers attempting to gain control of the khat trade.

Visitors to Djibouti may be surprised by the sudden commotion that bursts each day upon the otherwise torrid and torpid streets. At 1:20 pm on the dot, a cacophony of car horns and shouting breaks out heralding the news that Khat, the mildly intoxicating leaf, and the nation's daily addiction, has arrived.

Two hours later, the capital is a ghost town again, abandoned to the cats, the Foreign Legionaries and the occassional tourist. Locals are firmly ensconced behind closed doors in the sacred confines of the mabraz (khat den).

Every day, or at least several times a week, khat consumers meet their inner circles of friends or peers in the mabraz. there, a minimum of five hours is spent reclining on cushions, smoking cigarettes, or sipping tea; all while grazing on the leaves.

Eight tons of khat are flown in daily to Djibouti from Ethiopia. While the health effects of the drug are debatable, its economic impact on Djibouti is clearer and more disturbing. Expenditure is grossly distorted, and huge amounts of working time and effeciency are lost. It is estimated that two months and 16 days are lost per worker a year in the consumption of khat in Djibouti.

Social repercussions are alarming too. Long known to cause discord in the home (as husbands spend all their time and money on Khat), divorce is ever on the increase, and now affects nearly 50 percent of the population. As a result, children are underperforming in school, and many wives themselves are increasingly seeking comfort - of all things - in khat. Over 10 percent of women in Djibouti are thought to consume the plant regularly.