Pax Africana or Middle East Security Alliance in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea?

This paper examines current practices of Middle Eastern engagement in the Horn of Africa in historical context

From:
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Published
5 January 2019
Country:
Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen
Document Type:
Discussion Paper
Theme:
Governance and Conflict
Authors:
De Waal, A

Abstract

The Horn of Africa is located on a fault-line between two distinctly different strategies and philosophies for peace and security: the multilateral norms, principles and institutions that have been developed in Africa over the last 25 years, and the transactional politics of money and force of the Gulf monarchies. Today, the African peace and security architecture is jeopardised by the encroachment of the political marketplace of the Arabian Peninsular. Middle Eastern powers including Turkey, Egypt, Oman and Saudi Arabia have long been engaged in the politics and security of the Red Sea and the Horn. However, the twenty years after 1990 marked an anomalous diminution of Arab engagement in the region, a period that coincided with unprecedented African activism on peace and security. In the last five years, old and new Middle Eastern actors have engaged with north-east Africa in full force.

This paper examines current practices of Middle Eastern engagement in the Horn of Africa in historical context. It looks at the enduring paradox whereby the global powers of the day have ensured safety for shipping in the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden alongside tolerating recurrent turmoil in the littoral countries. The paper examines how the regional peace and security architecture and power balances have changed since the 1980s, with the emergence of the norms, principles and institutions of a ‘Pax Africana’.

This work is part of the Conflict Research Programme managed by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and funded by the UK Department for International Development.

Citation

De Waal, Alex (2019) Pax Africana or Middle East Security Alliance in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea? Occasional Paper (17). World Peace Foundation and the Conflict Research Programme, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

Pax Africana or Middle East Security Alliance in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea? (PDF, 1614KB)

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Published 5 January 2019
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