The more than 800 American special troops deployed in Djibouti last week are there to move against the Al-Qaeda elements believed to be in the Horn of Africa and Yemen. In itself, the presence of foreign troops in their country is not something that would get the people of Djibouti excited. It has long experience of that.
Djibouti’s acting Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali said that his country had been cooperating in the US-led war against terrorism. “The presence of US forces is not new; we have been working with them since Sept. 11,” he said, “We have heard media reports that they are moving to attack Yemen. We have no information on that. We have helped them get the necessary facilities to carry out their maneuvers.”
The tiny African country is already home to 3,550 soldiers from France, Germany and Spain. In addition, since Sept. 11, US-led coalition warships have been stationed off the coast of the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean to monitor maritime traffic. US reconnaissance planes have even been overflying the region.
In the Cold War era, the region was seen as an extension of major security and economic interests of both United States and former Soviet Union in the Middle East and the Indian Ocean. The Horn of Africa guards the southern access to the Suez Canal through the Red Sea. In the past, leaders of those countries provided important military bases and communication facilities to the two superpowers. After the Cold War ended, the region was abandoned and left behind.
Now the question is: Will deploying troops in the Horn guarantee America victory in the war against terrorism? We are not talking about a shooting engagement or two, or the arrest of a few, but the long-term battle to defeat terrorism.
In the Cold War years, the superpowers took comprehensive measures to strengthen their security and neutralize the challenges facing them. They supplied arms, money and moral support in pursuit of their major strategic and economic objectives. But the countries in the Horn did not spend the money on development or for productive purposes. Their leaders squandered their limited national resources on unproductive military pursuits. Regional conflicts, in turn, have exacerbated the political climate and intensified militarization. Domestic unrest has pushed leaders of the region to expand their already too-large armies. Ethiopia and Eritrea recently waged a border war; Sudan has been torn by a 19-year civil war and Somalia ravaged by 11 years of anarchy. These military conflicts have caused both the dislocation of populations and a net drain on their societies’ productive capacities. These are the root causes of the present unrest in the region.
Some experts believe that the region is a haven for criminals and subversives. There are reports that the region’s conflict zones have been used as transit points for the trafficking in narcotic drugs. In fact, the region has suffered most from world terrorism. Carlos the Jackal, the world’s most wanted man who is best known for masterminding the 1975 assault on the Vienna OPEC meeting at which 70 people were taken hostage, was allowed to stay in Sudan. In 1994, he was extradited to France where he is now serving a life sentence. Bin Laden was in Sudan before he moved to Afghanistan in 1996.
Sadly, the international community and the West seem to have not given to Horn of Africa the support required to calm the region’s present unrest. True, the region needs to improve security surveillance if it wants a lasting peace. The deployment of large forces, however, will be pointless if Western countries do not guarantee a continuing strong involvement in the Horn of Africa. This involvement would pave the way for combating terrorism.
