"Ethiopia and the
breakaway republic of Somaliland, two countries with which the U.A.E.
has good relations, also appear to have been excluded." Abbas Al Lawati/Bloomberg- Saudi Arabia wants to bring several states lining the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden into a bloc to improve trade and maritime navigation, according to state-run media.
Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz met at his Riyadh palace with foreign
ministry officials from Egypt, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and
Jordan “to look into establishing an entity for Arab and African states
on the Red Sea coast,” Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday. They
discussed ways to promote commerce and investment, as well as to protect
shipping, Al Ekhbariya said.
Gulf states have been taking a more active role in the Horn of
Africa, which got a special mention in the communique issued at the end
of Sunday’s Gulf Cooperation Council summit.
Saudi Arabia, for example, brokered a peace deal in September between
Eritrea and Ethiopia. Eritrea is located near the near Bab el-Mandeb, a
shipping choke-point on the Red Sea used by oil tankers and other cargo
vessels en route to Europe and the U.S. through the Suez Canal.
The United Arab Emirates has also been expanding its footprint in the
region, though it wasn’t included in the grouping. Ethiopia and the
breakaway republic of Somaliland, two countries with which the U.A.E.
has good relations, also appear to have been excluded.
Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. are both part of a military coalition
seeking to restore a friendly government in Yemen ousted by rebel
fighters. Parties to the conflict are meeting in Sweden under U.S.
pressure to agree to a cease-fire.
/Bloomberg
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