Albert Vidal Ribe
Several Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are becoming increasingly influential economic and diplomatic actors in sub-Saharan Africa. However, security cooperation and arms trade interactions between the region and GCC countries—traditionally security consumers rather than providers—are almost non-existent for five of the six members.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar have made sporadic donations of military equipment to selected sub-Saharan partners. Bahrain’s engagement in the region is largely confined to a small-scale deployment in Somalia. As for Oman and Kuwait, there is no known tangible security cooperation. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), on the other hand, has ramped up its security cooperation with sub-Saharan Africa in the past few years, overshadowing its GCC neighbours.
When, where and why?
miliWhile Emirati security cooperation with and arms sales to sub-Saharan Africa during most of the 2010s were modest—except for the case of Somalia and a few other countries—defence interactions became more common toward the end of the decade, in parallel with an increase in diplomatic engagement. Since then, Emirati arms sales and transfers have risen sharply.
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