The Horn of Africa Security: ‘A foreign Military Garrison’ of Great Powers

Nations build military bases at different places for different purposes. However, wherever it is, the existence of military bases in different places helps us understand the distribution of global power. Catherine Lutz (2009) relates the establishment of foreign military bases in a certain land as ambition of creating an empire. Its aspiration could be manifested through direct control of territories or indirect control over the laws, foreign policy as well as economy of a country.

The Horn of Africa is undergoing far-reaching changes in its external security environment. A wide variety of international security actors from Europe, the United States, the Middle East, the Gulf, and Asia are currently operating in the region. As a result, the Horn of Africa has experienced a proliferation of foreign military bases and a build-up of naval forces. The external militarization of the Horn poses major questions for the future security and stability of the region.

The Horn of Africa is one of the most important strategically located regions in the world. When we talk about this region, different authors attempt to include and exclude some countries based on their understanding of the concept of region. For some, the Horn of Africa includes the whole of eastern part of Africa including the great lakes region for some other mainly the North Eastern parts of Africa that includes Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia consider as part of the Horn of Africa. However, the disagreement over the members, the Horn Africa is one of the most important regions characterized by insecurity and volatile political situation

There had been different history occupation and colonial threats at different times; it was the British, French as well as the Italian powers that succeeded in occupying various parts of the Horn of Africa. At the beginning of the 20^th Century, Ethiopia was the only state in the region successfully averted the threat of colonialism; all the rest parts of the Horn of Africa were under grip of colonial powers. Then after, in the 1960s, dubbed as ‘Africa’s independence decade’ most of the colonial powers left the region except in Djibouti and for many pundits it was this period that marked the beginning today’s Horn of Africa, characterized by volatile politics, war and impoverishment yet significant geopolitically.

Vine (2015) conceptualises military bases as military installations of a certain nation on the sovereign land of another state. As part of their foreign policy, nations establish military bases in a place where they think have strategic advantage in attaining their objective. It is prudent for one to argue that military bases are the means through which states attempt to project their power as well as protect their economic and security interest in a region where they stationed. Therefore, military bases are one of the instruments of foreign policy of a state.

The importance of the Horn of Africa may vary from time to time. However, there are always attention-grabbing events that lure the mind of the world. Historically because of its geographic significance, beginning from the medieval period when Ottoman Turkey and the Portuguese set their foot through the times of the cold war rivalry between the Soviet and U.S.A to the current new kind of competition among different countries in the region, Horn of Africa has been the playing arena of world powers, big, medium, or small. The importance of the region is attributed to different natural and manmade factors. Naturally the region is adjacent to the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Babel Mandeb, R. Nile-the longest and most controversial river system in the whole world. As a result, it serves as the most important passageway for oil from the gulf region.

The Horn of Africa had also been important even before the discovery of oil in the gulf region. The building of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the interest of the West to protect it, gave way to the colonization of the region and opening of different ports along the coast of the Red Sea by the French and British colonial powers. In the current milieu, except for Ethiopia and the newborn state of South Sudan all members of the region, meaning Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, and Sudan all have a coastal area

Different countries beginning from superpowers, emerging powers and regional power rivals have stationed their military forces in the horn of Africa. It has been argued that that historically the concentration of military bases in a certain region has huge implication and has always been used as an infrastructure for war. The Horn of Africa, the most militarized region in the world by far, hosts over ten military bases in three different countries, by nine different states with other imminent bases expected.

Even if the strategic location of the region is very significant, there is not any region in the world that hosts such concentration of foreign military powers. Some have gone as far as describing Djibouti as a ‘military Garrison’. The country has become the only place in the world where US, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese military forces are stationed simultaneously and Saudi Arabia being the latest candidate.

In Eritrea, years have passed since the United Arab Emirates military force stationed. Egypt’s interest to build a military base in Eritrea has also been reported. Furthermore, the Somaliland government has allowed the Emirati government to establish a military base along the coast of Berbera. Besides the physical presence of those countries, various nations have vested interest in the region; Egypt, Qatar, Russia, and Iran being the prominent ones.

Ethiopia uses primarily the Djibouti port for its external trade and has ongoing plan of economic integration, which also includes diversifying Ethiopia’s port option in the region including to Somaliland (Tedros, 2015). However, with the expansion of military bases in Djibouti, the reliability of the port is in question. In Eritrea, the continued political standoff between the two countries coupled with UAE’s military presence and the potential coming of Egypt, Ethiopia’s survival in the region would be in jeopardy. In Somaliland, Ethiopia’s interest could be challenged by the presence of UAE.

 Furthermore, considering the historical uneasy relationship between Arabs and Ethiopia and now the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) as well as the ongoing Gulf crisis, the presence of the Gulf States military in the region requires us to investigate the concept of ‘Siege mentality’ which has been refuted by the incumbent governments and some literatures. In other words, the influx of foreign military has rather exacerbated the already existing inter-state mistrust, tension, fear, and the fragility and fluidity of a state in the Horn of Africa. This, therefore, has very serious ramifications for the region’s peace and security.

Paradoxically, though, with the highest concentration of foreign military bases in the world, the horn of Africa has since remained both intra and inter-state conflicts prone part of the world with frightening threats of terrorism and piracy and their accompanying unstoppable spill over effects to the entire continent of Africa and the world.   Above all what makes the concentration of those foreign military bases in the region unique is, the variety of the forces in terms of power, ideology as well as level of adversity, making the Horn of Africa the hub of adversarial powers.

In conclusion therefore, with the highest concentration of foreign military bases, the horn of Africa has remained the most turbulent region in the whole world.  Currently the Horn of Africa is hosting most of the Veto powers as well as strong emerging powers, which makes the region a playing field of superpower politics. Currently, the Horn of Africa is hosting several military bases of various countries mostly rivals, on permanent bases. China and USA are ardent rivals politically as well as economically on global level, China and Japan are regional as well as global rivals and finally the two leading Gulf powers, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, among others are there to counter the coming of Iran as well as deter Qatar’s influence in the region. In an already conflict-ridden region, the existence of rival powers could fuel tension in the entire region and instigate direct military confrontations among states. This order of things puts the stability in the region and survival of individual states in a very complicated security puzzle.