United Arab Emirates: Oil princes take over Africa – News

“Sparta from the Gulf”

In response to the mass protests of the “Arab Spring”, the UAE intervened in various regional conflicts from Bahrain to Egypt. The phrase “Sparta on the Gulf” made the rounds: like the ancient city-state, the Emirates, with their billions in oil, pursued an aggressive foreign policy disproportionate to their small size.

Where others have allowed chaos and instability, Emirates has embraced historical responsibility and encouraged moderate forces.

The UAE’s top political expert, Abdulkhalek Abdullah, insists that the “pursuit of stability” is what guides the UAE in its foreign policy. He is considered close to the government. “Where others have allowed chaos and instability, Emirates has taken historic responsibility and encouraged moderate forces,” he said during our last visit to Dubai.

Purana:

Abdulkaleq Abdullah, a former political science professor, was also an adviser to the current president, Muhammad bin Zayed. Abdullah hailed the UAE as a “new leading power” in the region.

SRF

In Sudan, however, many see the emirates as sowers of chaos. The Yemen war has already shown how the UAE combines strategic commitment with commercial interests. Abu Dhabi gained control of key ports on the Arab side of the Red Sea with the help of allied Yemeni militias. From there it is a short drive to Africa.

Gulf princes began building port infrastructure along the African Red Sea coast and the so-called Horn of Africa from Eritrea to Djibouti to Somaliland. They are now investing in port facilities on the west coast of Africa, in Angola and Senegal.

For Eleonora Artemagni, this shows that the entire African continent is now the center of Emirati expansion. He researches Emirati foreign policy at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies in Milan.

Purana:

Eleonora Artemagni is an expert on Yemen, Gulf monarchies and Arab armed forces.

Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI)

Shipping logistics is one of many Emirati activities on the African continent. The UAE invests in mining and gold mines and buys raw materials related to the energy transition: copper, cobalt, lithium, nickel. Their interest in the mining business stretches from Zambia to Angola to Tanzania. They also operate wind farms in South Africa and solar systems in Mauritania.

Exploitation of strategic raw materials

Artemagni sees energy transition as one of the drivers of expansion. The oil princes of the Gulf are trying to secure themselves for a future where natural resources will not flow from their own soil.

Investors from arid desert states are also concerned about securing food supplies via Africa. Nevertheless, the traditional oil business is important, for example in Mozambique. Emirates is also active in telecommunications, in 12 different African countries.

Emirates now overtakes China in billions in direct investment in Africa. The Milan-based golf researcher believes his commitment to Africa is long-term.

Dubai is the “Commercial Hub” of Africa.

While the Emirates invests heavily in the exploitation of the continent’s resources, Dubai attracts the financial transactions of the African elite: the trading center with its glass palaces on the Persian Gulf is now considered the most important “business hub” in Africa. .

Emirates wants to keep their independence policy.

The extremely wealthy Gulf monarchy benefits from its dynamism in international relations. It has always operated under the U.S. security umbrella, but is increasingly barred from freer relations with China and Russia.