In 1862 France acquires the settlement Obock. In the upcoming decennia it also acquires the Protectorate of Tadjoura. The French posessions are united in 1896 in the colony of French Somali Coast. In 1946 France changes the status from colony to overseas territory, and grants it self-government in 1956. The first vice president of the government council (under the French governor) is Mahamoud Harbi Farah of the Parti Mouvement Populaire (People's Movement Party, PMP). He is succeeded in 1958 by his co-partisan Hassan Gouled Aptidon. In 1959 Ahmed Dini Ahmed becomes vice-president of the Ligue Populaire Africaine pour l'Indépendance (African People's League for Independence, LPAI), succeeded in 1960 by Ali Aref Bourhan of the Union Nationale pour l'Indépendance (National Union for Independence, UNI). In 1966 Abdallah Mohamed Kamil of the Rassemblement Démocratique Afar (Afar Democratic Rally, RDA) becomes vice-president.

In 1967 the territory is renamed in the French Territory of Afars and Issas and self-government is enlarged. Former vice-president Ali Aref Bourhan of the UNI becomes the president of the governing council. He is succeeded in 1976 by Abdallah Mohamed Kamil of the RDA. In 1977 Hassan Gouled Aptidon of the Ligue Populaire Africaine pour l'Indépendance (African People's League for Independence, LPAI) becomes prime minister.

The territory becomes independent after a referendum in 1977 as the Republic of Djibouti with Aptidon as president. Djibouti becomes a one-party state in 1981 under the Rassemblement Populaire pour le Progrès (Popular Rally for Progress, RPP, successor of the LPAI) of president Aptidon. In 1992 pluralism is restored, but the RPP remains dominant. It forms a coalition with the Frount pour la Restauration de l'Unité et de la Démocratie (Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy, FRUD) in 1997. When Aptidon resigns in 1999 the RPP candidate Ismael Oma Guelleh easily wins the presidential elections.