Horn of Africa: Between absence of internal security and roots of Europe’s military bases

Ahmed Adel

Over the past years, the Horn of Africa has witnessed a major competition between a number of international forces in the establishment of military bases in Somalia, and increased conflict between the United States and Britain to establish and train Somali forces; to restore security in the country again.

The importance of the Horn of Africa, after the October 1973 war, was significant. The Bab al-Mandab closure had an essential role in influencing the course of the war. It drew attention to the importance of this strait in influencing the reality of the Horn of Africa, which overlooks the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The geographical location of the Horn of Africa has been a state of competition among a number of international powers. For example, the United States has many military bases around the world, in addition to seeking to impose a major hegemony over the continent by establishing its bases. This is manifested in the base of Djibouti, which is able to control the Bab al-Mandab Straits.

US military bases

America has the largest military base in the Horn of Africa, specifically in Djibouti; it has more than 4,000 personnel, both military and civilians, created after the September 11 attacks.

Washington also has several secret military bases in the countries of the Horn of Africa. In Kenya, there are the two Mombasa and Nabok bases. In Ethiopia, there is the Arba Minch air base for unmanned aerial vehicles. The base is extended to 2025 at a cost of $60 million annually.

British military bases

Britain opened a new military base on Wednesday in the Somali city of Baidoa for the training of nearly 120 Somali troops to promote long-term stability and security in Somalia and to assist the Somali army in carrying out current operations in Lower Shabelle.

There is also a British army base in Nanyuki (200 km north of the capital Nairobi) to train Kenyan troops, which come under a Kenyan-British agreement, carrying out six training battalions a year and three training periods for military engineers carrying out civilian projects in the country.

The former British military bases in the Horn of Africa were the same as the European Union forces, which are based in Djibouti, known as the European Anti-Piracy Operation (Atlanta), which includes eight countries: Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Britain , Sweden, with the aim of controlling the pirates, which take place in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and control the movement of international shipping.

The purpose of the military bases

In this context, the counter-terrorism operations carried out by the Somali army start from the bases of military bases implemented by Britain and America in the country. The purpose of those military bases is to fight both the movement of young Mujahideen loyal to al-Qaeda, and the Daesh organization after successive defeats in Syria and Iraq.

Ahmed Askar, a researcher on African affairs, said the withdrawal of African troops in Somalia by 2020 would put Somalia’s security institutions in serious trouble as a result of weak capacity and training.

“The construction of military bases is a pretext for further foreign intervention in Somalia and the Horn of Africa,” Askar said in a statement to The Reference. “The signs of this are many, starting with the international community’s failure to support the African forces. This led to its threat of withdrawal, making the road paved for more military bases in the region, such as the announcement by the United Kingdom of the opening of its military training center in Baidoa and the talk of other bases in other areas.”