Strategic Thinking on East Africa

Foreign Policy BY PAUL MCLEARY Not content to build new military airstrips on a string of artificial islands in the South China Sea, Beijing is branching out even further, having just secured basing rights next door to Washington’s most important drone base in Africa. The eastern African nation of Djibouti has long been a critical component […]

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International Crisis Group By Abdul Khalif & Cedric Barnes | @CedricHoA This year, the armed Islamist extremist group Al-Shabaab has notched up a series of bloody successes against both Somali targets and the African Union peace-enforcement mission AMISOM. Meanwhile, the international community has been busy cajoling principals of the Somali federal and state governments into […]

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From International Business Times BY MORGAN WINSOR @MORGANWINSOR General view of a tourist village in Obock, Djibouti on Feb. 10, 2008. PHOTO: JOSE CENDON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Skiffs sit on April 12, 2015, on a beach in Obock, a small port town in northern Djibouti where China is expected to soon begin building its first oversea military outpost. PHOTO: TONY […]

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From The International Crisis Group Magnus Taylor, The Africa Report | 25 Jan 2016 In the Horn, where cash-strapped regimes often teeter on the brink of financial survival and alliances are made and broken with bewildering regularity, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has found willing partners as Saudi-Iranian tensions escalate. In the commercial melting pot […]

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The U.S. Air Force recently “neutralized” 69 enemy combatants — and has taken meticulous steps to cover its tracks This piece originally appeared on TomDispatch. On October 7th, at an “undisclosed location” somewhere in “Southwest Asia,” men wearing different types of camouflage and dun-colored boots gathered before a black backdrop adorned with Arabic script. They were […]

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By Yemane Negash, Reporter Recent reports show that Eritrea is officially involved in the Yemeni crisis allowing the Saudi-led Arab coalition to use its Assab port, airspace and territorial waters in fighting the Houthi rebels. A high official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, who wants to remain anonymous, told The Reporter that […]

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Challenges to US Diplomacy: Dealing with Terrorism and Instability in the Horn of Africa Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Annandale, Virginia 13 October 2015   David H. Shinn Adjunct Professor, Elliott School of International Affairs George Washington University   Introduction For the purpose of this presentation, I define the Horn of Africa as Sudan, South Sudan, […]

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Addis Ababa, 12 October, 2015(WIC) - Ethiopia and Djibouti have signed an agreement to construct a 550km refined petroleum products pipeline worth $1.55 billion linking the two countries. Black Rhino Group and Mining Oil & Gas Services (MOGS) have been contracted to build the 20-inch pipeline to transport petrol, diesel and jet fuel from Damerjog port […]

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From The Guardian Ethiopia and Djibouti are looking to create an African infrastructure hegemony that reaches into West Africa. THE MEN IN NAVY BLUE: Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn with Djibouti President, Ismaïl Omar Guelleh. If they had their way they would own oil the railway and oil pipelines from East Africa to the Gulf […]

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Posted on September 28, 2015 by Malik Ibrahim Ismail Omar Guelleh will be the first African president to appear as a witness in a UK corruption case. But this trial of intrigue is just one of many challenges facing the 16-year president. For the first time in history, a sitting African president will be summoned to give evidence in person […]

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