\u201cThe State of Qatar and East African nations enjoy close and distinguished relations\u00a0based on historical ties and a common desire to achieve economic, educational and social prosperity for the people of the region. For example, the Qatar Fund for Development has contributed grants and concessional loans to East Africa that exceeded $4 billion over the last eight years,\u201d says Lolwah al-Khater, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs for Somalia in particular, we reaffirm Qatar’s commitment to supporting the nation as it works relentlessly to fulfill its peoples’ hopes and aspirations, and we look forward to continuing to further and deepen cooperation on trade, development\u00a0and other sectors,\u201d Khater added.<\/p>\n
Doha previously played a limited role in the region, focusing on economic development;\u00a0that\u00a0role has gradually expanded,\u00a0and it looks set to develop even further.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeacekeeping was initially Doha\u2019s sole agenda in the region. [It] had limited influence at first [as a small country]\u00a0and initially was arguably seeking to work beyond its own means,\u201d says director of Gulf Studies at Qatar University Mahjoob Zweiri.<\/p>\n
Qatar initially committed\u00a0peacekeeping forces\u00a0to Somalia\u00a0and on the Eritrea-Djibouti border in 2010 during a dispute over border territory following a 2008 conflict over boundaries, which\u00a0Qatar also mediated.<\/p>\n
Yet Zweiri stated that as Doha developed more experience in the region, it realised economic developments were crucial for state-building and stability.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince then, there have been gradual increases in ties. By 2016, investment across the continent from Qatar\u2019s Investment Authority had delivered over $35 billion to African states, particularly focusing on resource and infrastructural development,\u201d said Zweiri.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen there is economic stability, there is greater potential for peace, and for Qatar to increase its ties and cooperation with different regional states. The Hobyo port will provide more jobs, more opportunities for people and long-term economic development,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
After\u00a0Somalia refused to support\u00a0Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain\u2019s\u00a0blockade on Qatar, the UAE particularly became angry and cut ties with Somalia, also ending its humanitarian and security projects in 2018. Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi has\u00a0sought to divide Somaliland\u00a0and Puntland in order\u00a0to further weaken the Mogadishu government\u2019s authority and\u00a0secure its own commercial and port interests. This created an aid vacuum in Somalia, which Qatar has sought to fill.<\/p>\n
However, the Gulf crisis has somewhat polarized regional states\u00a0\u2014\u00a0particularly in Somalia\u2019s autonomous states\u00a0\u2014\u00a0which Zweiri says somewhat challenges Qatar\u2019s abilities to get fully involved in regional development.<\/p>\n
Eritrea, which also relies on a\u00a0lot of Saudi and Emirati investments, had\u00a0cut ties with Qatar\u00a0after the 2017 Gulf crisis, making it harder for Qatar to maintain its peacekeeping forces on the Djibouti-Eritrea border, with Doha\u2019s troops pulling out.<\/p>\n
But the Gulf crisis has not prevented Qatar\u2019s bid to establish greater regional relations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been attempts by the UAE and Saudi Arabia to block countries doing business with Qatar, but it has not really led to anything.\u00a0Qatar\u00a0has been far less aggressive in its foreign and trade policy than the UAE and Saudi Arabia and has therefore been able to maintain good relations with different parties, even the military regime in Sudan,\u201d said Krieg.<\/p>\n
Qatar owns the first and largest bank in Juba,\u00a0South Sudan\u2019s capital. Doha also provides aid for Sudan, recently\u00a0giving $5 million\u00a0to flood victims, while also providing food security. As Sudan\u2019s transition is now moving toward civilian rule, partly foiling a Saudi- and Emirati-backed\u00a0military counterrevolution, Qatar will have less opposition to its investments\u00a0amid\u00a0previous speculation\u00a0that military rule could hinder Doha’s relations there.<\/p>\n
Due to Qatar\u2019s less aggressive regional stance, Ethiopia has\u00a0shown increasing warmth\u00a0toward Qatari investment, which has marked further\u00a0Doha-backed development projects\u00a0this year\u00a0including building a hospital in the capital, Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n
Despite further pressure to sever ties with Doha,\u00a0Somalia has not buckled, rejecting\u00a0in May a Saudi offer\u00a0of $80 million to cut relations. Mogadishu had drifted closer toward\u00a0Qatar after Abu Dhabi cut\u00a0its investments.<\/p>\n
Certain regional and global powers like the UAE and China have sought greater influence in the Horn of Africa,\u00a0yet Krieg said Qatar is focused more on humanitarian motives\u00a0rather than on a \u201cwar over ports.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPopular narratives in the press that Qatar is involved in some battle for competition in the region with the UAE and Saudi Arabia are exaggerated. While the UAE heavily invested in\u00a0secessionist communities in Somalia in an effort to solidify its reach into the Indian Ocean and access to vital shipping lanes around the Horn of Africa, Qatar has so far only worked with the central government to ensure that it can uphold national unity in Somalia,\u201d said Krieg.<\/p>\n
Zweiri argues that Qatar has not substantially increased its investment in East Africa after the blockade\u00a0but has shifted greater attention toward building West Africa, such as in Senegal.<\/p>\n
Despite some African states\u00a0recalling their ambassadors\u00a0to Qatar after the Gulf crisis, expanding development projects into the west is a future focus for Qatar, after its Somalia developments, he added.<\/p>\n
Sources: Al-Monitor | JIC Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Qatar\u2019s plans to construct a port in the Somali town of Hobyo is the latest step in its aid and development vision in the Horn of Africa,\u00a0helping to consolidate its relations in the wider region. Qatar\u2019s Ministry of Transport and Communication Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti stated\u00a0on Aug. 19, \u201cThe port will achieve\u00a0multiple economic benefits for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":7955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1363,4836,1648,4899,12487,6850,5569,5304,7358,9204,11583,4024,10767,8440,5262,12785,8875,5049,6732,1572,5787,6496,9643,3577,2264,6566,5579,1360,6464,6825,12773,8342,1362,9343,7407,1365,5205,6565,3684,5572,7047,12085,5396,5466,11082,10313,8552,1359,8609,8160,1364,5655,1749,1361,557,6730,11089,10329,9178,347,11957,214,9539,11622,5251,5981,3954,10415],"class_list":["post-7954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-access","tag-africa","tag-african","tag-agenda","tag-aid","tag-arab","tag-attack","tag-bank","tag-border","tag-capital","tag-common","tag-conflict","tag-crisis","tag-cut","tag-dispute","tag-doha","tag-egypt","tag-emirates","tag-ethiopia","tag-flood","tag-food","tag-fund","tag-future","tag-government","tag-grants","tag-gulf","tag-gulf-crisses","tag-horn-of-africa","tag-hospital","tag-increase","tag-indian","tag-indian-ocean","tag-investment","tag-jobs","tag-juba-south-of-sudan","tag-july","tag-loans","tag-london","tag-military","tag-mogadishu","tag-nations","tag-peace","tag-peacekeeping","tag-port","tag-professor","tag-qatar","tag-qater","tag-regional-development","tag-saudi","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-security","tag-senegal","tag-somalia","tag-somaliland","tag-sudan","tag-terror","tag-trade","tag-troops","tag-uae","tag-unity","tag-university","tag-victims","tag-vision","tag-war","tag-west-africa","tag-will","tag-work"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50981,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7954\/revisions\/50981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}