UAE Security Forum 2019: Reshaping the Future of the Horn of Africa

For the fourth consecutive year, AGSIW convened the UAE Security Forum, where U.S., UAE, and regional partners gathered to find creative solutions to some of the region’s most pressing challenges.

The Gulf Arab states’ engagement with the countries of the Horn of Africa dates at least to the postcolonial era of the 1950s and 60s. Over recent decades, however, the Horn of Africa has become a region of increasing geostrategic and economic importance. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia recently demonstrated they could leverage relationships to produce positive outcomes, brokering a historic rapprochement between bitter rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea that could be transformational for the region’s political and economic security and stability. The Red Sea basin has also re-emerged at the heart of global geostrategic competition, leading Saudi Arabia to seek an alliance with six countries bordering the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a strategic area vital to global shipping and increasingly an arena of contention between regional rivals.

UAESF 2019 brought together a diverse group of policymakers and officials, scholars, economists, international development practitioners, and representatives from nongovernmental organizations to analyze the long-term implications of the renewed international interest in the Horn of Africa. In particular, discussions focused on growing Gulf influence as the future of the Horn of Africa is being reimagined.

Read the conference report.

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