African Union summit clouded by Saudi-UAE rivalry in Horn of Africa

LONDON/NAIROBI: A feud between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates across the Horn of Africa is overshadowing this weekend’s African Union summit, though most of the continent’s leaders will try to avoid taking sides, nine diplomats and experts said.

What began as a rivalry in Yemen has spread across the Red Sea into a region riven with conflicts - from war in Somalia and Sudan to rivalry between Ethiopia and Eritrea and a divided Libya.

In recent years, the UAE has become an influential player in the Horn - encompassing primarily Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti - through multi-billion-dollar investments, robust diplomacy and discreet military support.

Saudi Arabia has been more low-profile but diplomats say Riyadh is building an alliance that includes Egypt, Turkey and Qatar.

“Saudi has woken up and realised that they might lose the Red Sea,” a senior African diplomat told Reuters. “They have been sleeping all along while UAE was doing its thing in the Horn.”

Initially focused on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden - both crucial shipping routes, the rivalry is now reaching further inland.

“Today it is in Somalia, but it is also playing out in Sudan, Sahel and elsewhere,” the diplomat said.

While these conflicts have strong local drivers, Gulf involvement is forcing countries, regions and even warlords to choose a side, diplomats said.

Michael Woldemariam, a Horn of Africa expert at the University of Maryland, said regional actors, including Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), have grown uneasy with the UAE’s “muscular” foreign policy.

“Saudis may seek to limit or curtail UAE in the Horn but, it remains to see how that will play out,” he said. “UAE has a lot of leverage across the region – it has this expeditionary military presence and dense financial linkages.”

Saudi officials say UAE activities in Yemen and the Horn threaten their national security. Senior Emirati officials say their strategy strengthens states against extremists, while UN experts and Western officials argue it has sometimes fuelled conflict and empowered authoritarian leaders, charges the UAE denies.