Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE deepen strategic competition for African influence

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are expanding rival diplomatic, economic and security footholds across Africa as the continent's geopolitical weight grows, with the three states courting governments from the Horn of Africa to the Sahel and West Africa through investment pledges, port and infrastructure deals, and military cooperation agreements. Turkey has built on its long-running relationship with Somalia, where it operates its largest overseas military base in Mogadishu and has trained Somali security forces since 2017, while also expanding ties with Ethiopia, Djibouti and Libya through drone sales and construction contracts carried out by Turkish firms. The UAE has focused heavily on ports and logistics, including its DP World-operated facilities in Djibouti, Berbera in Somaliland, and elsewhere along the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden corridor, alongside agricultural and mining investments in Sudan and other states. Saudi Arabia has pursued a parallel track through the Saudi Fund for Development, energy and infrastructure financing, and religious and cultural diplomacy tied to Mecca, deepening ties with Egypt, Djibouti and Sahel states as part of a broader push to secure Red Sea security and counter competing influence from other regional and global powers. Analysts note the competition reflects Africa's rising strategic value for trade routes, ports, minerals and food security, with the three Gulf and Middle Eastern states increasingly treating the continent as a theater for advancing their own regional standing. For Qatar and the wider Gulf, the trend underscores how African partnerships have become a new arena of competition among neighboring and allied states, adding a layer to existing regional dynamics even as Doha has pursued its own, comparatively lower-profile development and mediation initiatives on the continent.