"As the Horn heats up, Middle powers see opportunity"

The Horn of Africa, the expansive region on the eastern part of Africa, is rarely without incident. From drought to floods and security challenges such as civil wars and violent extremism, the region has had its fair share of problems, and global attention. Over the past month, the new contentious issue has been Egypt’s coming into Somalia ostensibly to offer military support to the Mogadishu’s security problems.

Egypt’s military aid is not new but the new context is that it agreed to be a part of the next African Union’s mission in Somalia, known formally as the African Union Stabilisation Support Mission (AUSSOM) which is set to replace the African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) by the start of 2025. This week, Egypt delivered more arms via a ship to the Port of Mogadishu, just a month after two planeloads landed at the Aden Adde International Airport to deliver the first batch of weapons. Some of the troops Egypt will deploy will be under a bilateral arrangement while the other pool will be a part of AUSSOM.

The Egyptian gesture has widely received political backing in Mogadishu, quite different from previous troop contributors that struggled to win hearts and minds of the political leaders and civilians in Somalia. Yet it has not gone without incident. Egypt joined other Middle Powers like Turkey in seeking to tight down relations with Somalia, upending their previous rivalry. In this context, panellists gathered under the auspices of the Africa Policy Institute and the Council on Kenya-Somalia Relations discussed the various factors fuelling the reactions to Egypt’s move.