The Gulf State Rivaling China and the US in Africa
United Arab Emirates Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Sultan Ahmed Al-Jabber at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sept. 5, 2023.
Photographer: Luis Tato/AFP/Getty Images
The United Arab Emirates has quietly become one of the biggest geopolitical players in Africa.
The Gulf state is splashing out on a blockbuster $35 billion deal to help bail out Egypt, pledging billions of dollars more in investment in other countries and picking sides in some of the continent’s most brutal wars.
With Chinese infrastructure funding tapering off and Western engagement wavering, Abu Dhabi’s cash flows have been coupled with a concerted diplomatic push: an approach mirrored to a lesser extent by its neighbors Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
These ambitions have taken the UAE beyond the Gulf states’ historic North-African sphere of influence and from the nearby Horn of Africa into every corner of the continent.
Its investment pledges — totaling $44.5 billion last year, the top country for the second year running — focus on renewable power, logistics and technology, in better-developed economies such as Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and Kenya where strong infrastructure and economic expansion are stoking demand for energy. But its role in the continent’s wars are more parochial — largely focused on the regions closest to the Middle East.
The wealthy Gulf state backs Khalifa Haftar in the war for Libya, Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed in his fight against Tigray rebels and reportedly the Rapid Support Forces militia in Sudan, where its battle against the army has created the world’s biggest population displacement crisis and drawn accusations of war crimes. The UAE denies supporting the RSF, while United Nations investigators have called allegations that it does “credible.”
From massive government bailouts and backing warlords to operating nine of the continent’s major ports via Dubai-based DP World and committing $4.5 billion in climate financing, the UAE is exerting influence at scale.
That’s making the nation of 10 million a force to be reckoned with alongside the traditional big powers like China, the US and Europe. — Neil Munshi