Africa watchQatar plays key role for peace in the Horn of Africa
The past year’s unexpected outbreak of peace between former rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa was the result of a decade of patient diplomacy, investment, and military peacekeeping by several regional states, most notably Qatar. The small, oil-rich Emirate in the Persian Gulf has now emerged as a significant regional power.
The past year’s unexpected outbreak of peace between former rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa was the result of a decade of patient diplomacy, investment, and military peacekeeping by several regional states, most notably Qatar. The small, oil-rich Emirate in the Persian Gulf has now emerged as a significant regional power.
The Horn of Africa is of strategic and economic importance. The region commands the gateway between the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal. An estimated 3.8 million barrels of oil go through the Bab El-Mandeb straits, the 12-mile-wide strait between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, each day.
One analyst writes that the roles played by Middle Eastern countries for the Horn of Africa may be broadly split into three emerging strands, each with its own ambitions and motivations: the “Islamist Strand.” led by Turkey and aligned to Sudan and the Federal Government of Somalia; a “conservative” one led by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the more balanced and even-handed approach exhibited by Qatar.
The Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa has had a difficult half-century: The 1974 coup by the Dergue in Ethiopia – toppling the regime of Emperor Haile Selassi after several major famines – injected Cold War politics into long-simmering regional rivalries and secessionist groups.
The Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) and the Ogaden Somali secessionists launched serious guerilla campaigns, as Ethiopia switched from the United States to the Soviet bloc. Only the massive intervention of Soviet bloc troops – particularly the 15,000 Cuban combat troops – turned the tide in the Ogaden, and returned the Eritrean wars to a stalemate.
Rising discontent in Ethiopia spawned more guerilla groups, like the Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) and Oromo guerilla groups. The collapse of the Dergue’s Soviet patron, and Cuba’s withdrawal of its troops, took away the last support of the Dergue regime, and in 1991 a coalition of rebels, spearheaded by the TPLF took power. At the same time, the EPLF swept through Eritrea, and declared its independence.
