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The Foreign Military Presence in the Horn of Africa Region

Cover  The Foreign Military Presence in the Horn of Africa Region
Publisher: SIPRI
SIPRI, Stockholm:
32pp.
April, 2019

The Horn of Africa is undergoing far-reaching changes in its external security environment. A wide variety of international security actors—from Europe, the United States, the Middle East, the Gulf and Asia—are currently operating in the region. As a result, the Horn of Africa has experienced a proliferation of foreign military bases and a build-up of naval forces. The external militarization of the Horn poses major questions for the future security and stability of the region.

This SIPRI Background Paper is the first of three papers devoted to the new external security politics of the Horn of Africa. The paper maps the growth of foreign military forces in and around the Horn over the past two decades. The other two papers in this series are ‘The New External Security Politics of the Horn of Africa Region’ (SIPRI Insights on Peace and Security, April 2019) and ‘Managing the New External Security Politics of the Horn of Africa Region’ (SIPRI Policy Brief, April 2019).

Contents

I. Introduction

II. Foreign military forces in the Horn of Africa region 

III. Multilateral military missions in the Horn of Africa region

IV. Conclusions

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)/EDITORS

Dr Neil John Melvin was a Senior Researcher working on the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean Security.