Abu Dhabi's military presence in Africa
The UAE's armed forces have operated on African soil for some time. Emirati military personnel took part in United Nations peacekeeping operations in Somalia and Emirati planes joined in the NATO-led air campaign against Libya in 2011. However, the UAE's presence on the African continent is far deeper than this. In March 2024, the Associated Press reported on an airstrip allegedly constructed by the Emiratis on the Socotra archipelago off the Horn of Africa. The airstrip was reportedly used for strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. Over the past decade, Abu Dhabi has built outposts in Yemen, the Horn of Africa, and in North Africa. The Emiratis have not officially confirmed the existence of these outposts, though it is believed that these bases are maintained by the Emiratis in secret as a means of increasing their military reach without antagonizing local populations or tarnishing the country's global image.
In September 2015, the UAE built a military outpost in Eritrea to support its forces in Yemen. More specifically, the outpost served as a base to transport heavy weaponry and Sudanese personnel into Yemen. According to a February 2021 AP article, the Emiratis began dismantling the base as their security priorities began to shift. Eritrea, a small state in the Horn of Africa referred to as "Africa's North Korea," leased the base to the UAE for a period of 30 years. Neither Asmara nor Abu Dhabi responded to questions from AP journalists regarding the outpost. The UAE spent millions of dollars upgrading the facility at Assab, only 40 miles from Yemen. The Emiratis constructed a port and expanded the runway there in order to accommodate heavier aircraft.
This facility was previously built by the Italians, who were the dominant colonial power in the area. As time went on, the UAE stationed tanks, self-propelled howitzers, and amphibious fighting vehicles at this base. This installation also housed “one of the best field surgical hospitals anywhere in the Middle East” according to a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Attack helicopters, drones, and other aircraft have been spotted on the Assab complex's runways. While there has been dismantling of the base's facilities taking place, Emirati attack helicopters have still been seen using the airstrips there. The installation sits right off the Bab-el-Mandeb strait connecting the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea. Rebels in Ethiopia's Tigray region claimed that Emirati drones taking off from the Assab base had been used against their forces. The United Nations-supported government in Libya has accused the UAE of using Assab to transport weapons to Libya.
Since 2012, the UAE has furnished equipment, funding, and training to the Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) via a base in Bosaso. They have also maintained bases in coastal towns like Qandala and Hafun. The PMPF was formed in 2011 to combat pirate activity in the Gulf of Aden. Abu Dhabi pays the PMPF's salaries. In January 2023, the UAE and Somalia inked an agreement to enhance security cooperation between the two countries. The Emiratis have provided training and funding to Mogadishu's security forces. Abu Dhabi has likewise trained security forces in Somaliland. The UAE built a military airfield in Somaliland as well, though it was later converted to a civilian airport. Additionally, the UAE is active in Ethiopia. The Emiratis are cooperating with Addis Ababa on the issue of terrorism. Ethiopia's Republican Guard, activated in 2018, is Emirati-trained.
It warrants mentioning that Abu Dhabi's presence is not limited solely to the Horn of Africa. In 2016, the UAE established a military academy in Mauritania. In 2018, the academy began training senior officers belonging to local armies. Abu Dhabi pledged tens of millions of dollars toward this military academy. In addition, the UAE has signed military cooperation agreements with countries like Senegal, Morocco, and Egypt. In 2023, Angola and the UAE concluded a deal in which the latter would supply corvettes to Angola's navy. The Emiratis also agreed to provide military equipment to Kenya, Uganda, and the DRC.
The Emirati economic presence in Africa
Abu Dhabi's footprint on the African continent is not limited to the security sphere. In recent years, the Emiratis have purchased land in sub-Saharan Africa. The reason for this is simple: the UAE's geography. The UAE has no rivers and only a tiny fraction of its landmass is suitable for agriculture. An Emirati-based company called Blue Carbon LLC (owned by a member of the ruling family) has recently acquired land in Tanzania, Liberia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to convert portions of their land into carbon credits. Blue Carbon's carbon offsetting deals cover a fifth of Zimbabwe's land, 10% of Liberia's and Zambia's land, and 8% of Tanzania's. Collectively, this amounts to an area approximately the size of the United Kingdom. It is reported that even more land deals are to come.
It should be mentioned that Blue Carbon's chairman, Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook al-Maktoum, has no prior experience in nature conservation. Prior to this, the sheik was involved in selling the Russian Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine. According to Christopher Davidson, a scholar at Durham University, "it was unlikely that al-Maktoum was operating without the approval of the UAE government in his business dealings." Blue Carbon and the sheik himself have come under scrutiny with regard to their business dealings. The sheik organized sales of the Sputnik V vaccine to Ghana, Guyana, Lebanon, and Pakistan in 2021. Deliveries of these vaccines did not always go as planned as they sometimes failed to arrive and the cost of the vaccines sparked outrage. The issue of the vaccines proved so outrageous that calls had been made for Ghana's health minister to resign. One of the two advisers for Blue Carbon LLC, Samuele Landi, is a convicted criminal in Italy. Landi was twice convicted of fraudulent bankruptcy and lives as a fugitive in the UAE. Samuele Landi was also the founder and CEO of Eutelia, one of Italy's largest telecom companies.
Over the last decade, the UAE has invested nearly $60 billion dollars in Africa. The second-largest GCC investor, Saudi Arabia, invested $25.6 billion. In March 2024, an Emirati company purchased a majority stake in one of Zambia's copper mines. During the past decade, the volume of trade between the UAE and sub-Saharan Africa increased by more than 30%. Another Emirati firm, DP World (a logistics company), is investing $80 million into a logistics park over 300,000 square meters in size as part of a deal with Egypt's Suez Canal Economic Zone. This firm also inked a 30-year contract to upgrade and operate a portion of Dar es Salaam's port in Tanzania. In February 2024, Kenya and the Emirates signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. The CEPA aims to bolster trade, investment, and economic cooperation between Nairobi and Abu Dhabi. On July 22, 2024, Mauritius and the UAE signed a CEPA in Dubai.
In June 2023, several major companies with links to the Emirates joined together to form the UAE Carbon Alliance with the aim of developing a unified national carbon market. The Carbon Alliance pledged in September 2023 that it would purchase over $400 million in African carbon credit by the year 2030. According to a December 2023 article in Le Monde, "This interest comes as no surprise. The world's 7th-largest oil producer has no intention of abandoning fossil fuel extraction, even though this has been identified as the main cause of global warming, but it will not remain on the sidelines of climate negotiations either." A visible demonstration of this commitment to combating climate change was the selection of Dubai as the host city for the 2023 COP28 Conference. However, as stated previously, since revenues from hydrocarbons still make up such a large portion of the Emirati economy, Emirati commitment to fighting climate change has its obvious limits.
The United Arab Emirates, along with the other GCC states, has increased its military and economic footprint in Africa. Trade between the GCC and sub-Saharan Africa has grown significantly and is worth keeping an eye on in the coming years. The volatile security situation in the waters off the Arabian Peninsula has given the Emiratis an impetus to invest in Africa's security and the constraints imposed on the UAE by its geography have stimulated economic investment on the continent. Some analysts have talked of a new "scramble for Africa" and it will be interesting to see how the continent's military and economic landscape transforms over the following years.
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