Gulf | Qatar
Experts ask Arabs to settle differences
Analysts say Arabs risk losing land and rights over Red Sea if Horn of Africa problems continue
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 00:01 May 26, 2010
- Image Credit: AP
- People flee with their belongings in northern Mogadishu after militants attacked Somalia's presidential compound and other government positions in the capital on Sunday.
Manama: The indifference of Arabs and Muslims to developments in the Horn of Africa could eventually cost them their sovereignty over their waters and lands, a panel of analysts has warned.
"The collapse of federal authority in Somalia had opened the door to foreign intervention, resulting in the emergence of extremist militant groups as well as piracy.
"These developments in turn led to 24 countries sending their naval forces to the Indian Ocean," Aviar Abidi, a political analyst at a Qatari university, said.
"As a result of regional and foreign interventions in Somalia, Sudan and Djibouti, Arab interests are at stake. Arabs are going to lose more clout over the Red Sea, as well as more land, if they remain as indifferent as they are to the problems of the Horn of Africa," he said as speakers debated the situation in the Horn of Africa at a forum organised by Al Jazeera in Doha.
According to Abidi, land-locked Ethiopia will always try to find a way to the sea by interfering in Somalia.
Greater interests
The analyst deplored the absence of an active Arab and Muslim role in the Horn of Africa, despite great interests in the region.
"Two African states, Uganda and Burundi, because of their military presence in Somalia, have a greater influence in the Horn of Africa than the Arabs and Muslims," Abidi said, quoted by Qatari daily Gulf Times.
"This continued absence will compound the complexity of the problem, especially when influential countries like Indonesia and Turkey are not involved in finding solutions."
Amir Abdali, the assistant director of the Yemeni Centre for Research and Studies, said that the problems in the Horn of Africa were a result of the complex religious, ethnic and tribal relationships.
"The problems are also very complicated, ranging from piracy, the dispute over the distribution of the Nile River water to the threat of terrorism and the Sudanese problem," he said.
Reminding the audience that Al Qaida had declared that it was seeking to reach the Strait of "Mandeb", Abdali said that the second danger in the region was turning the Red Sea into a hotbed for conflict and terrorism.
"This would increase the chances of the internationalisation of the Red Sea and cost the Arab states their sovereignty over the waters," he said.
Abdali said that Al Qaida had succeeded in reaching Somalia and is beginning to export its operations to neighbouring countries to hit US and Western interests, a development that will be used to justify "foreign interventions".
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