#horn-of-africa-security

#horn-of-africa-security

In late 2025, the United States shocked the world by suspending global health aid, leading experts to predict 700,000 additional deaths annually, primarily among children. This prompted the US to propose unusual bilateral health agreements with developing countries, which have drawn criticism for being exploitative.

Moses Chrispus Okello, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, states that there is a high risk of escalation in Somaliland, where Israel and the UAE have interests. He emphasizes that tensions could also rise in neighboring Djibouti, where the US and other powers are active.

Bilateral ties between Egypt and Somalia continue to deepen. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi assured his Somali counterpart, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Sunday in Cairothat Egypt stands firmly behind "Somalia's unity and territorial integrity." On Wednesday, Cairo then followed up on an agreement from January 2025 and deployed 1,091 troops to Somalia's capital Mogadishu. The deployment of Egyptian forces to Somalia the first such deployment in their decades-old bilateral history marks a significant shift.

These decisions and moves by the UK, say analysts, raise doubts about whether its words are in keeping with its actions in the Horn of Africa. Amgad Fareid Eltayeb, a Sudanese policy analyst, said the UK's credibility is increasingly judged by the risks it is willing, or unwilling, to take. When people believe your words and your actions diverge, they stop treating you as a broker and start treating you as an interest manager, he told Al Jazeera.

The 39th African Union (AU) summit is set to be dominated by pressing security concerns across Africa, as the continent continues to face escalating conflicts. However, there are mounting questions on whether the pan-African body can actually deliver on peace and security strategies: A study conducted by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in 2023 revealed that a staggering 90% of the decisions made by the AU's Peace and Security Council (PSC) have not been implemented since the inception of the PSC in 2004.

The extermination of the Palestinian people must end, the chairman of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, has said, as dozens of heads of state gather for the regional body's 39th summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. In the Middle East, Palestine and the suffering of its people also challenge our consciences. The extermination of this people must stop, said Youssouf, who was elected to head the institution a year ago, declared on Saturday.