Source: https://issafrica.org/
The first ministerial-level meeting of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) on the Horn of Africa and Red Sea region, planned for February 2020, was cancelled for undisclosed reasons. The meeting was expected to define Africa’s priorities and interests in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region, and chart the way forward for its engagement.
The AU is the only regional organisation that can bring together all African countries with a stake in this region to address the trans-regional peace and security dynamics that directly affect them.
Despite this unique position, the AU’s responses to these political and security dynamics have thus far been reactive. Meanwhile, non-African powers have developed foreign policies specific to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region, coveted for its unparalleled geopolitical, strategic and economic significance. These countries, moreover, protect their political and economic interests through their military presence in the area.
As regional competition for influence continues, Africa will remain entangled in the trans-regional security complex of the Arabian Peninsula and beyond. The AU has the potential to provide a mechanism that enables African countries to withstand the destabilising effects of such competition. It can also provide a platform for Africans to define their priorities and set the agenda for trans-regional cooperation.
If the AU is to become a viable multilateral platform in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region, however, it has to reposition itself so as not to be sidelined in the response to the regional peace and security dynamics that affect its member states.