Now djibouti sounds belligerent
On the territory of this small state in East Africa, in the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia has deployed its first foreign military base. Controlling the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, connecting the waters of the Red Sea and in the east of the Gulf of Aden, Djibouti turned out to be the center of sea transits between three continents - Europe, Asia and Africa.AT THE RED SEA
Geographically, the Republic of Djibouti, located at the entrance to the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean, is located in a region of many years of military-political instability, which is of great strategic importance for many states of the world. Some time ago, military bases of Germany, Italy and Spain appeared on the territory of Djibouti. In the same place, Japan and China are developing the territory for their military missions. And this is despite the fact that France and the United States have long deployed significant military contingents in Djibouti. The European Union, which opened the headquarters of Atalanta’s naval operations in Djibouti, is trying to keep up.
Djibouti - a country with poor mineral resources. It is often called literally a poor state. The interest of the world powers, European states and neighbors, both far and near, is almost exclusively associated with its geographical position. Djibouti in the north is bordered by Eritrea, in the west and south by Ethiopia. In the southeast, Djibouti’s neighbor turned out to be the unrecognized world community of Somaliland, officially considered part of Somalia.
Most of the population of Djibouti is not ethnically Arab, but Sunni Muslim. After gaining independence from France in 1977, the country joined the League of Arab States. Simultaneously with independence, armed clashes between the two main ethnic groups, the Afar and Issa tribes, began in the country. During the period of the colonial mandate, the administration was dominated by afar, and after the country gained its independence, Issa. In 1992 – 2000, there was a civil war in Djibouti, ending in a power sharing agreement.
Today has not yet fully folded weapons “Front for the restoration of unity and democracy, FEDD” (Front pour resta restaument de l “unit et de la démocratie, FRUD), the Afar military group established in 1991 now 67-year-old Ali Mohamed Daud. And this is despite the fact that one of the FED factions attempted to make peace with the authorities and in March 1996 of the year was legalized as a party.
During the three-day (from 10 to 12 June 2008) border conflict between Djibouti and Eritrea, only three people died. But in Djibouti, this conflict is considered a short or three-day war. Indeed, as soon as the Eritrean troops crossed the border of Djibouti, the President of the Republic, Ismail Omar Gelle, announced the mobilization of all military and police officers. The armed forces of the state, which had undergone serious training mainly with French specialists, did not allow the Eritreans to advance into the depths of their country. The conflict was ended thanks to the intervention of France. A peacekeeping contingent of Qatari troops was deployed on the Djibouti-Eritrean border. Nevertheless, the disputed section of the border was taken by the Eritrean troops.
The total number of French military stationed here is approaching 3 thousand. The ships of the French Navy regularly moor in the port of Djibouti. Paris annually transfers Djibouti 70 million dollars for renting a base.
In 2001, Americans leased from Lemonnier camp from Djibouti, where soldiers from the French Foreign Legion had previously been trained. After a short time, this camp became a major military base, the only one in the zone of American operations on the African continent. The American command uses Lemonier to train its soldiers in combat operations in the desert.
Given the unfriendliness of the northern neighbor, Djibouti "keeps the powder dry": it purchases the latest weapons for its 10-thousandth army, has formed new units in the Republican Guard and in the rapid-response battalions. The ground forces have howitzers, Soviet multiple launch rocket systems BM-21 “Grad”, mortars, anti-aircraft installations, armored personnel carriers, various types of armored vehicles. IUDs are represented by at least 10 patrol boats.
As part of the Air Force - transport and helicopter squadrons. Djiboutians are armed with Russian-made Mi-24 and Mi-35М combat helicopters, Russian-made Bell 412 multi-purpose helicopters, two Chinese Y-12 twin-engined turboprop military transport aircraft, as well as American light aircraft of various types. A significant role in the defense of the country is gendarmerie and paramilitary forces of national security forces. When a mobilization is announced, it is the gendarmerie that becomes the base reserve for the formation of new army units.
However, the neighbors of Djibouti militarily cannot be considered weak. Therefore, Ismail Omar Gelle and went to a rapprochement not only with the United States and with European countries, but also with Saudi Arabia, the kingdom, trying to "play first violin" in the Sunni world. In January 2011, Djibouti officially severed relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) after Tehran intervened in the civil war in Yemen. Shortly before this step, Omar Gelle accused the Iranian ayatollahs of interfering in the affairs of such Arab states as Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain. Responding to these accusations, Iranian Foreign Minister Bahram Kasemi advised President Gelle to refrain from unsubstantiated accusations. The state of Djibouti was one of the first to join the coalition formed by Saudi Arabia to fight the Hussite rebels in Yemen. Hussites belong to the Shiite tribes in the north of the country in the Saad area. They adopted this name by the name of their ideologue Hussein al-Husi, who was killed by the Yemeni army in September 2004. This conflict entered an active phase in 2009, when fighting broke out between the Hussites, on the one hand, and the armies of Yemen and Saudi Arabia, on the other. Riyadh justified its intervention with the death of two Saudi border guards at the hands of the rebels. Yemen’s President Abu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled from the capital of Sana'a, first to the second largest city in the country, Aden, and then to Djibouti.
The Saudis have to confront not only the Houthis, but also the militants of the most dangerous al-Qaida organization in the Arabian Peninsula ”(AQAP), created at the beginning of 2009 of the year from al-Qaida’s Afghan-Pakistani supporters, but acting largely autonomously. And although the leader of AQAP, a native of Yemen, Nasser al-Wahayash and his deputy, a native of Saudi Arabia, Abu Sayyad al-Shihri, was eliminated respectively in July of 2015 and in September of 2012, the militants of this group left no hope to overthrow the current ruling dynasty. The Islamic State, which is banned in Russia and several other countries, pursues the same goals on the peninsula.
ON THE USA ALREADY NOT HOPEIt is impossible to ignore the fact that Riyadh had relied on the United States and France for decades and had not thought of building military bases beyond the borders of the kingdom. However, during the presidency of Barack Obama, allied relations between the White House and the royal palace of the Saudis weakened. In the reliability of Paris, which did not often manifest its own political will, but was in the wake of Washington, there were also doubts. In Riyadh, they understood that the relying solely on assistance from abroad was incorrect and could cost the country dearly.
The Saudis began to act independently. Riyadh carried out its first major operation in Bahrain, bringing in its military contingent there to rescue Sunni royal power. The Kingdom of Bahrain is, by territory, the smallest Arab state in the world (for comparison: approximately like the Russian city of Perm), in which the vast majority of the population is represented by Shiite Muslims, and King Al Khalifa and his family are Sunni Muslims. The intervention of the Saudi troops helped Al Khalifa stay on the throne. Manama is convinced that Tehran has secretly supported and continues to support Shiite opposition groups in Bahrain.
For the Saudis, the Kingdom of Bahrain is an important strategic ally. In Riyadh, once they wake up, they do not want to see uninvited Iranian soldiers, 25 km from their borders, in an oil-rich area. tanks and armored personnel carriers. Riyadh will not allow Bahrain or Yemen to become a satellite of the Tehran Ayatollahs.
More recently, the royal court of Saudi Arabia had no doubt that in the event of Iran’s military intervention, the local ayatollahs would have to deal seriously not only with the Saudi army, but also with the American one. But the war in Syria and Iraq has changed priorities. And yet it is not known where the spring of the Arab peoples will go further.
The military base in Djibouti is an attempt by the Saudis to seize the initiative from the Iranians. It is significant that the signing of the agreement between Riyadh and Djibouti took place a few days after the announcement of Muhammad Hussein Bakri, the chief of the General Staff of the Iranian army, about the likelihood of creating Iranian naval bases in other countries. In Riyadh, the words of the high-ranking Iranian military were taken very seriously. Moreover, so far Iran has not had military bases abroad.
It is important to note that other Arab states of the Persian Gulf are showing interest in building military bases in Djibouti. Undoubtedly, under pressure from Riyadh, the United Arab Emirates is thinking of creating its base in Djibouti. Djiboutians have a difficult relationship with the emirates. The Emirates created a military base in Eritrea (in the area of Asmara International Airport), which shortens the route for air strikes against Yemeni Hussites. But the Djiboutians refer to the Eritreans, with whom they had a three-day war, with understandable suspicion. Offended by the UAE, Djibouti has closed off the consulate of the Emirates. Further events developed rapidly.
Suddenly, Asmara expressed her support for the Yemeni Hussites. Outraged Riyadh demanded that Abu Dhabi immediately reconcile with Djibouti. At the beginning of 2016, a reconciliation took place.
Financially, Djibouti is supported not only by the Saudis. Recently, apartment buildings, a school, and a mosque for the local poor of 200 were built with funds from Kuwait in Djibouti. The Turks, for whose money in Djibouti, built a mosque on 4 thousand worshipers, were also generous. It is significant that this mosque was named after the Ottoman Sultan Abdulgamid the Second, the last absolute autocrat of the empire. This sultan promoted the idea of pan-Islamism, which the current Turkish leader adheres to. It is clear that Ankara does nothing for nothing. In exchange for the mosque, the Turks received the rights to build their military base in Djibouti. Turkey built the first foreign military base in Qatar. Following the base in Djibouti, Ankara plans to build a base in Somalia.
ENOUGH DZHIBUTI FOR EVERYONE
Nevertheless, the strategic position of Djibouti is such that it is on its territory that China and Japan form their bases. For both countries, these are the first foreign military missions. Undoubtedly, Beijing hopes to increase its penetration, both military and economic, into East Africa through a base in Djibouti. In 2015, the Chinese signed an 10-year contract to build a base and already managed to open a bank branch in Djibouti as part of the Great Silk Road project, which serves the financial interests of various countries. Beijing plans to invest billions of dollars in its 60 projects. In 2015, China signed a 10-year contract to build a logistics base in Djibouti for its naval forces to protect and carry out humanitarian and rescue operations in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. The construction, which has already entered its active phase, should be completed at the end of 2017. Experts have no doubt that the permanent Chinese military presence in Djibouti will expand Beijing’s military, political and economic influence not only directly in Africa, but also in the world as a whole.
Following the Chinese, the Japanese came to Djibouti. A number of military experts consider such a development out of the ordinary. After all, officially the Japanese Self-Defense Forces are a civilian, in other words, non-military organization. In relation to them, even the term “army” is avoided. Tokyo for seven decades after World War II did not conduct any military operations abroad. Only 19 September 2015, the Japanese parliament allowed the use of Self-Defense Forces to participate in military conflicts abroad.
The leaders of the Land of the Rising Sun explain the creation of a naval base in Djibouti by the need to protect the export of hydrocarbons from the Middle East to Japan. As soon as Beijing’s intentions regarding Djibouti became known, Tokyo announced plans to expand its base in Djibouti. Apparently, the Japanese will build their own barracks and airfield in Djibouti as part of the anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia. For renting 12 hectares of land used for the base, local authorities requested significantly less from the Japanese than from the French - only 40 million dollars a year.
The creation by the Chinese and Japanese of military bases on the African continent far from them is difficult to explain solely by the plans for the participation of these states in anti-terrorist operations in the regions of the Middle East and North Africa. But even agreeing with this explanation, the conclusion suggests itself this way - both China and Japan see themselves in the cohort of powers responsible for the “world order”. Today it is impossible to say unequivocally, “good” or “bad”. The main thing is that world policy makers find a common language. Literally and figuratively.
In the same place, in the port of Djibouti, the 152nd operational connection of the 5th is based fleet The United States Navy, which is participating in combat operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and in the central and southern parts of the Persian Gulf with the combat units of the states participating in the antiterrorist coalition — Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, and several other countries.
Back in 2010, Djibouti expressed its willingness to provide its port for the base of Russian warships leading the fight against maritime piracy in the region. And although certain contacts between the Russian and Djiboutian military have been established, a long-term program of action is not at issue.
Today, Djibouti by the number of foreign military bases and, accordingly, non-local military personnel per capita is the most militarized state in the world. It is clear that the authorities of this poor country are trying precisely to rent their territory to military bases to increase their budget. It seems that they don’t see any other way to make money.
The Jerusalem Post Israeli columnist Michael Ashkenazi believes that the success of Singapore has turned the heads of Djibouti. “President Ismail Omar Guelle sees himself as Djiboutiian Lee Kwan Yu,” Ashkenazi writes, “but the first prime minister of the Republic of Singapore, the architect of the Singapore economic miracle, never hoped for any help.” And the territory of the tiny city-state Singaporeans right and left for rent under foreign military bases do not distribute. At the only military base in Sembavang, the northern tip of Singapore, there are facilities for material support of the 7 fleet of the US Navy and a number of facilities for the US Air Force.
As for the unprecedented number of foreign military bases in Djibouti, such a development of events carries with it the danger of further destabilization not only in the Middle East region, but also in other parts of the world.
Information