The United Arab Emirates has “emerged as a small imperialist country in the region” with a deliberate policy of controlling ports along Africa’s coast, according to former Ethiopian diplomat Mohamed Hassan.
Speaking to Sovereign Media’s Ahmed Kaballo about the issues facing the Horn of Africa, Hassan argued that Abu Dhabi’s ambitions stretch across the continent’s eastern seaboard, from Sudan and the Eritrean ports of Massawa and Assab, through Djibouti, Berbera, Bosaso, Mogadishu and Kismayo, to Mombasa and Dar es Salaam.
A maritime empire in the making
Hassan said the vision extends across the Red Sea to Yemen, where the UAE is looking to dominate ports including Mukalla, Aden, Mocha and Hodeidah. In his view, controlling both shores would make the Emirates the largest port-owning country in the world, bigger than Singapore.
He questioned where such an idea came from, describing the UAE as “a nomadic country by accident of history” that became very rich after the discovery of gas and oil.
“It’s a parasite system,” Hassan said, arguing that the country has no proper working class of its own and relies on guest workers, including large numbers of Kenyans and Indians, while living off the sale of natural resources.
Hassan also pointed to Africa’s resource wealth, which he said accounts for about 60 percent of the world’s resources. He argued that smuggling has long been an economic backbone for external powers on the continent, because many states lack the strength to control their own borders and, in some cases, a “comprador” ruling class is willing to allow the trade. Gold, he said, is the easiest resource to smuggle.
The Abraham Accords
Hassan tied the UAE’s growing appetite to the Abraham Accords, the US-backed agreement under which the UAE and Bahrain normalised relations with Isr*el. He described the accords as a concept that would place Israel at the centre of the Middle East and open the way for it to become the dominant power in the region.
“What the Emirates call expansionism in Arabic is concentrated on the Horn of Africa,” Hassan said. “And the purpose is to dismantle the Sudanese state.”
Note: the views above are Hassan’s. The UAE has not responded in this piece.
