Section Three
The Financial Times said
Our engagement with Africa is not transaction-based but guided by shared values and a vision for sustainable development and inclusive growth.
The official also described the UAE’s relations with Africa as a relationship based on mutual trust, respect, and a shared vision for a more prosperous future for our nations.
However, in parts of the African continent, there are concerns about the UAE’s motives and the leverage it has gained through trade, investment, debt, and opaque security cooperation with governments of varying degrees of authoritarian history.
Mehari Taddele Maru, an Ethiopian researcher and experienced expert on regional peace and security, says
We must understand the limitations of Africa’s ability and authority to determine its own destiny; the resources the UAE employs are vast.
He also says the UAE’s generous financial aid and support extend beyond official relations with governments and have, in some cases, expanded in ways that cause instability.
Particularly in the Horn of Africa and East Africa, the UAE has collaborated with non-state armed groups in arms supply and illegal gold smuggling.
According to estimates by Swissaid, nearly $30 billion worth of gold extracted by artisanal and small-scale miners is exported from Africa to Dubai each year without these exports being officially declared.
In other words, while gold has flowed in one direction, weapons have moved in the opposite direction.
Over the past two years, UN experts, Western intelligence agencies, flight tracking specialists, and human rights groups have gathered extensive evidence about arms supply lines that help fuel the ongoing civil war in Sudan.
This evidence includes airstrips, military bases, and naval bases on the Red Sea coast and in other African countries allied with the UAE, which Abu Dhabi uses for covert operations of arms transfer and smuggling.
The UAE has used this network to help transform Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — which once had limited weaponry — into a well-equipped and powerful paramilitary force, accused by the UN, the US, and human rights groups of committing ethnic cleansing and genocide against non-Arab indigenous groups.
The RSF is now equipped with advanced drones, air defense systems, and a fleet of armored personnel carriers.
Workers load relief supplies labeled UAE AID and WHO onto a cargo plane bound for Sudan at sunset.
Abu Dhabi does not hide its concerns about the growing influence of Islamist forces in the Horn of Africa and has security agreements with a wide range of regional governments; however, a UAE government spokesperson says the UAE has not and does not provide any military or financial support to any of the parties involved in the Sudan war.
Nevertheless, many in Africa see a connection between the UAE’s growing economic interests in the region and its military interventionism.
A senior Muslim leader in West Africa, who like many prominent figures on the continent preferred not to speak publicly due to concerns about potential repercussions, says
Unlike China, the UAE — particularly Abu Dhabi — has negatively inserted itself into African politics.
One of the clearest examples of the link between commercial ambition and the expansion of political-military power is the Port of Berbera in Somaliland.
This port has been a site of competition among various empires since ancient Greece and has long been valued for its strategic location on one of the world’s busiest maritime routes, the Gulf of Aden.
Dilapidated Ottoman villas, British cannons on the shore, and a 42-kilometer runway built by the Soviet Union all testify to the interest and presence of past imperial powers in the region.
But above these historical relics, a sign of a newer power stands out: a massive row of ship loading and unloading cranes on the shore, installed by the multinational logistics company DP World owned by the Dubai government at the port’s docks.
This equipment is part of a $450 million investment that follows an approach known as Field of Dreams — named after the Hollywood film of the same name — meaning they build the infrastructure first and hope that demand will follow later.
