The Horn of Africa is a key node in world affairs, centered on global shipping and, therefore, important links in trade and economic development. The West, generally represented by the United States but once led by Europeans, and the East, once represented mainly by Russia but now involving the rising China and India, have always been dominated by the Horn of Africa countries. fought for control of the. SEEDS countries namely Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Sudan. None of these competing powers has ever had these countries’ interests at heart, and unfortunately, over the past 200 years, countries in this region have always fought in battles over which they have no control or no say. has continued to be a pawn.
There are even regional powers that are now joining the political and economic struggles that are raging in the region, all of which are claiming that they are in favor of this camp, or that Horn Africans in general are They are competing to prove that they are in a position that can be described as groom’s helpers or groom’s helpers at the ceremony. . They are working for the West or the East, or both, which is disrupting the Horn of Africa in more ways than one, or perhaps this is the beginning of a more multipolar world.
The Horn of Africa region has suffered greatly from this intense competition due to geostrategic, geopolitical, and geoeconomic factors, and has lost a large number of its young population. Climate change, manifesting itself in more regularly recurring weather disasters, didn’t help either. NGOs that thrive in such situations have taken it upon themselves to destroy any existing governance infrastructure in the region through indirect and malicious activities in regional countries, bypassing the central authorities of regional governments. . In many ways they are.
For better or worse, the Horn of Africa region has never emerged from the Cold War due to its geostrategic location, despite recent talk of a rekindling of the Cold War. There has been no respite in the Horn of Africa over the past few decades, even when the Soviet Union collapsed and NATO and the Western powers at one time declared supreme power, a unipolar world.
Terrorism and jihadism have been introduced to the region and continue to wreak havoc in the region. Armies, mainly from non-regional parties, but also from the region, came together under the banner of the African Union to fight these new demonic forces that killed, maimed and destroyed lives in the region. , and sometimes sent under the flag of the United Nations. Particularly in Somalia, a large portion of the population has fled the region and spread to countries around the world. Today, they can be found in more than 140 countries.
It may come as a surprise to some that a generally rich and resource-rich region suddenly turns into a famine region, with a huge number of internally displaced persons camps throughout the region. All ports that were supposed to play an important role in international trade became ghost ports with little trade. The region has become a corrupt and politically unstable region, which makes it unable to help itself in the current situation.
To make matters worse, the region has now become a veritable battlefield where the armies and navies of many countries are concentrated. Of course, these include the militaries of the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and France, as well as regional forces such as the UAE, Egypt, and Turkiye. Many other countries also have a military presence in the region, raising concerns about militarization of the region.
The region’s complex narrative is driven by many geopolitical, geopolitical, and geoeconomic factors, and is forced by a complex web of security-related entities. The countries of the Horn of Africa and their seas and oceans (Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Somali Sea, Indian Ocean) connect Asia, Africa and Europe, a historical connection that continues to this day. The vast natural resources of the Arabian Peninsula in terms of energy sources, which will soon be supplemented by the region’s own potential hydrocarbon resources, have attracted many competitors to the region, and therefore These competitors are encouraging the stationing of armies and navies. The pretext is to protect shipping routes through the area.
This also encourages landlocked Ethiopia to use its large population as an excuse to illegally seek and plunder parts of Somalia’s territory and seas, further adding to the already complicated instability in the Horn of Africa country. It’s making it complicated. This is certainly an attempt and a challenge to erase old boundaries and create new ones in this region. It only complicates matters and explains why countries like Ethiopia are historically made up of different nations and nationalities forced together by 19th century European colonialism and local supporters in the region at the time. May be broken down into component parts.
The geopolitics of ports in the region has become a critical focus of competition. This is evidenced by the creation of China’s first foreign naval base in the region and the growing presence of the Indian Navy in the region’s waters. Traditional Western navies, which considered the region’s waters their own territory, must have been surprised, and this complicates the region’s problems. The region’s ports are now witnessing complex competition between foreign powers from afar.
The United Arab Emirates is one of the most active foreign actors in the region beyond traditional Western powers, and has so far largely occupied the Somali ports of Berbera, Bosaso and Kismayo after being forced out of Djibouti. It has been extremely successful. Turkiye Port is currently located in Mogadishu, Somalia, but other ports in the region are subject to intense foreign competition for control. The Egyptians too, having been away from the region for the past 40 years, have suddenly shown an interest in the region, mainly driven by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and GERD, but not specifically for the security or unification of Somalia. . they claim.
The region’s rich resources also play an important role in the calculation matrix of these foreign actors. The region is rich in hydrocarbon reserves (oil, gas, coal), minerals important for new technologies such as coltan, cobalt, lithium copper, and rare earths, as well as traditional gemstone minerals such as gold, silver, and gemstones. Note that it is reported to have reserves. Many other gemstones such as rubies, emeralds and sapphires. The region is also endowed with vast marine food resources as well as huge livestock populations. This region has a large agricultural base and cultivated land, and many people operate in this region and pretend to feed hungry people instead of helping them produce their own food. It seems that it has been destroyed by some NGOs.
It is very unfortunate that, despite the obvious interest of other parties in the region, the countries of this region are not looking straight at the problem and are not working together to determine the future of the region. They let strangers with a handful of money decide the fate of the region. Ethiopia’s current reckless attempt to seize parts of Somalia’s seas and land and threaten other countries in the region is just a perfect example of the region’s uniqueness. This could lead to further disruption of the region and, of course, disruption of livelihoods.
It would have been helpful if the region had seen itself as a region rather than separate countries acting individually. The stakes are too high for a single country as other countries arrive en masse. There is no doubt that the region is clearly a geopolitically independent region, and its leaders should have been prepared to withstand the continued pressures placed on them. They could have formally built a better platform for mutual adjustment politically, economically, and even socially. After all, this region is inhabited by people with similar historical backgrounds, not only in terms of ethnicity, but also in culture and language.
So far, there has been a breakdown in communication between the countries, particularly between Somalia and Ethiopia, and between Eritrea and Ethiopia, but there is always an opportunity to right the wrongs that have been committed. Ethiopia may cancel an illegal memorandum of understanding it signed with a region of Somalia that bypasses central authorities and threatens Somalia’s sovereignty and unity, while threatening coastal states over maritime access. There is a possibility that they will stop. It already has access to the sea through commercial contracts and could gain more access, but ownership of the coast will not be part of the bargaining chip. We have to accept that we are a landlocked country like many other large countries like Mongolia and Kazakhstan.
It is clear that competition for this region never stopped the Cold War, which continues to this day. It certainly goes back to the opening of the Suez Canal, which was a competition between European colonialist countries at the time. A number of actors are currently involved, including regional powers that appear to be trying to demonstrate their prowess at the expense of poorer Horn African countries. Therefore, it appears that Cold War dynamics never really left the region. The region’s geostrategic location continues to frame regional security, economics and, of course, politics and, of course, those interested in the region.
