Who's in Somalia? And why?The Africa Report.com

Below is a list of countries that have deployed forces or provide military support to troops on the ground in Somalia, and some of the reasons behind the military action.

KENYA

Kenya's invasion was reportedly to secure its northern border and to protect its coastal resorts from rebel militias. The operation has since grown into a medium-term occupation force, partly to establish Kenya's military credentials in a dangerous neighbourhood.

UGANDA

Uganda's military aspirations in the region rival Ethiopia's, despite its much smaller army. Its strategy draws revenues from the UN peacekeeping budgets and US military, and reinforces Museveni's ambition to become president of the East African Community.

DJIBOUTI

Ethnically Somali, neighbouring Djibouti may have the most compelling security reason to intervene. President Omar Guelleh's government, which faces growing opposition at home, is offering more than 5,000 troops to the AU force.

ETHIOPIA

Ethiopian interventions in Somalia date back to the 19th century and its Somali-speaking Ogaden region remains in dispute. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi sees Somalia as a critical regional security issue with capacity to cause instability in Ethiopia's south-east. Meles works closely with US counter-terrorism forces, confirming Ethiopia's role as regional policeman.

ERITREA

President Isaias Afewerki's policy in Somalia above all reflects his hostility to Ethiopia's government and suspicion of western military operations in the region. Eritrea supports the Al-Shabaab militia in its battle against the Transitional Federal Government, which it sees as an incompetent proxy for Ethiopia's and the USA's interests.

UNITED KINGDOM

Prime Minister David Cameron's hosting of the London conference on Somalia on 23 February is mainly because of regional and international security concerns: the de-stabilising effects of Somalia on three important markets, and the possibility that British-based affiliates of Al-Shabaab could launch terrorist attacks on the Olympic games in London in July.

UNITED STATES

The US has focused on killing or arresting Al Qaeda operatives and local affiliates in Somalia. The Pentagon sees Somalia as a back office for Al Qaeda operations in the Middle East and its pirates as a serious threat to international shipping. The State Department pushes a more holistic strategy to boosting African Union peacekeeping and regional economic cooperation.

FRANCE

France uses its base in Djibouti to protect its strategic interests in the shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden, and to monitor security in the Horn and the Arabian peninsula. Total has interests in maritime oil reserves along Somalia's coast and other French companies have stakes in the rapid growth of East Africa's regional market.

TURKEY

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's family visit to Mogadishu in August 2011 was a diplomatic masterstroke, establishing Ankara as a key backer of Somali recovery and projecting Turkish interests in north-east Africa and the Gulf, whose states meddle in Somalia.

QATAR

After working with Eritrea to support Al-Shabaab, Qatar is looking for other Islamist proxies to back in Somalia to extend its diplomatic clout. Its aim to bankroll development projects and take on a mediator role positions it as rival to Turkey.

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China beefing up military presence in Indian Ocean

China beefing up military presence in Indian Ocean
Tuesday, 20 December 2011


China has been demonstrating its power by expanding its presence in the Indian Ocean. (File photo)


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By AFP
NAIROBI

Little by little China is forming military links in Africa and in the Indian Ocean in order, experts say, to protect Beijing’s economic interests in the region.

In the past three weeks Beijing has committed to supporting Ugandan forces operating in Somalia and to helping the Seychelles fight piracy.

“It is very clear that the Chinese leaders recognize that military force will play a bigger role to safeguard China's overseas interests,” Jonathan Holslag, of the Brussels Institute of Chinese Contemporary Studies told AFP.

“There is a willingness, and even a consensus, in China, that this process will take place.”

The Indian Ocean is strategic, Holslag said, noting that 85 percent of China’s oil imports and 60 percent of its exports are routed via the Gulf of Aden.

Beijing does not so far have any military base in the region: its military presence consists of three vessels in the Gulf of Aden to fight Somali pirates.

But the deployment of those ships in 2009, the first of its kind for the Chinese navy, was already highly symbolic.

For the moment, cooperation between China and the islands of the Indian Ocean is still limited to “low profile military-to-military exchanges, but it is getting broader and more structured,” Holslag told AFP.

“The mere fact that China has a multi-year naval presence in the Gulf of Aden has great symbolic and diplomatic significance,” said Frans-Paul van der Putten, senior research fellow at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael.

“Symbolic because it shows other countries that China is an emerging naval power in the region, and diplomatic because China uses its navy ships for occasional visits to ports along the Indian Ocean rim, which helps it strengthen its diplomatic ties with countries in the region,” he added.

During an unprecedented visit by Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie earlier this month, the Seychelles asked China to set up a military presence on the archipelago to help fight piracy in the Indian Ocean.

Victoria is ruling out a military base but is looking rather at having “reconnaissance planes or patrol ships stationed” there, along the lines of what the US and Europe do, Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam said.

“China needs port infrastructure to supply its ships in the Indian Ocean, and covering a wider zone could make sense,” said Mathieu Duchâtel of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

With trade exchanges between China and Africa totaling 126.9 billion dollars last year, the stakes are sizeable.

Beijing’s efforts to keep its trade safe are not confined to the high seas. On the African continent China has set up a raft of cooperation ventures in an attempt to secure its investment zones.

Somalia, which has been at war for the past two decades, is “of crucial importance for China,” Holslag said.

Beijing has promised Uganda 2.3 million dollars towards covering the cost of its troops in the African Union force in Somalia (AMISOM).

“Not only is Beijing well aware that the failed state is a sanctuary for pirates that threaten its merchant and fishery fleet in the Indian Ocean; it also considers it to be an important source of instability and terrorism in other African countries where it has large economic interests,” Holslag said.

He noted China “is making eyes at the oil reserves in Ethiopia” and private Chinese firms have started linking up the Ethiopian hinterland to the port of Berbera in the breakaway region of Somaliland.

“China has ... almost permanent exchanges with officials from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somaliland on security in the Horn,” he said.

Both Washington and New Delhi, already concerned about China’s activities in the Pacific, take a dim view of its ambitions in the Indian Ocean.

“It appears that, for now, the U.S. and India are not very much alarmed by the relatively modest Chinese military activities in the Indian Ocean region,” van der Putten said.

However “the U.S. seems to welcome a greater Chinese involvement in addressing non-traditional security issues such as piracy, but is at the same time worried that China’s growing international influence undermines U.S. interests.

“In India there are concerns about a possible build-up of Chinese military power in the Indian Ocean,” he added.

“This could ultimately affect the geopolitical balance between India and China, in particular with regard to the disputed parts of the Sino-Indian border and with regard to the relationship between India and Pakistan, a country with close ties to China.”

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