How did the Ethiopian civil war disrupt Djibouti’s economy and railway traffic?

During the Ethiopian civil war in the late 1970s, the Djibouti–Addis Ababa Railway faced significant disruption due to guerrilla attacks on its infrastructure.1

Because the economic life of Djibouti and its capital city relies heavily on its function as an entrepôt—specifically facilitating trade between Ethiopia and the Red Sea—these attacks directly hindered the nation's primary trade artery. This instability, compounded by subsequent drought and war in the 1980s and early 1990s, forced many refugees to flee to Djibouti, which further strained the city's resources and economy.1