From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, the Front for the Liberation of the French Somali Coast (FLCS) was a terrorist organization active in French Somliland, which was later renamed the French Territory of the Afars and Issas, and finally called the Republic of Djibouti after achieving independence in 1977. Made up of ethnic Issa peoples from western Somalia, the Front found safe haven in Somalia and sought to overthrow the ethnic Afar-supported French regime in French Somaliland, reunite French, British, and Italian Somaliland, and expel all foreign forces from the Horn of Africa.<br /><p><br /><br />In 1862, the French, looking to balance British colonial influence in Aden, asserted control over the ethnic Afar and Issas peoples of modern-day Djibouti and established a colony called French Somaliland. The ethnic Afars hailed from eastern Ethiopia and, though they only made up around 15% of the population, were given puppet government jobs such as the Premiership of French Somaliland handed to Ali Aref and colonial assembly appointments in return for their loyal support of the French regime. Colonial administrators also established electoral laws to ensure that Afars always maintained a hefty majority in the territory's legislative assembly.<br /><p><br /><br />After expelling many ethnic Issas from French Somliland and arresting Issa colonial assembly leaders, French authorities announced that a referendum held in 1967 revealed that 60% of the population approved of French rule. Issas, enraged at the blatant unfairness of the referendum, rioted in the capital, Djibouti City, which from that point forward was surrounded with barbed wire and guarded by the Legion Etrangere (Foreign Legion). To mollify these popular sentiments, the French changed the name of the colony to the French Territory of the Afars and Issas but did not address any of the legitimate concerns raised by the Issas. Many of the Issas expelled before the referendum joined the FLCS in their anti-colonialist struggle, and the Issas still in French Somaliland continued to be severely underrepresented in government. In 1973, Premier Aref forbade Issas from running in the elections and also "imported" ethnic Afars from Ethiopia to vote.<br /><p><br /><br />Two incidents perpetrated by the FLCS in the mid-1970s reflected the frustration of the majority Issas with the French-Afar minority colonial government. In 1975, the FLCS kidnapped the French Ambassador to Somalia as he left a Mogadishu church. After the French government met their demands, which included the release of two of their members from prison and the delivery of $100,000 in gold, the Ambassador was safely returned to Paris, despite some initial logistical snags. The next year, six FLCS members hijacked a bus carrying 31 children of French military personnel near the Somali border. The terrorists demanded that the French completely withdraw from the French Territory of the Afars and Issas, grant unconditional independence to the colony, and release all political prisoners. After an initial stand-off, French snipers surrounded the bus and killed five of the terrorists simultaneously. Unfortunately, the sixth terrorist was able kill two children and wound five others, including the bus driver and a social worker, before he was killed. <br />