Gulf States and Turkey Become Major Players in East Africa and Horn

 The Africa Center for Strategic Studies published on 8 July 2025 a survey titled "Mapping Gulf State Actors' Expanding Engagements in East Africa."

The Gulf States, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are becoming increasingly important sources of investment and capital in the Horn of Africa and East Africa.

China's Belt and Road Initiative in East Africa

 Military Review published in its May/June edition an article titled "China's Belt and Road Initiative in East Africa: Finding Success in Failure?" by Edward A. Lynch, Hollins University.

The author argues that to a considerable degree, China has supplanted U.S. influence in East Africa.  If the Belt and Road Initiative is sustained over the next 10 years or so, China will have more global visibility and prestige than it has now.  

Ukraine War and Drought Causing Food Insecurity in East Africa

 The New York Times published on 1 April 2022 an article titled "War in Ukraine Compounds Hunger in East Africa" by Abdi Latif Dahir.

The war in Ukraine has driven up the cost of food in East Africa where countries depend heavily on grain from Russia and Ukraine.  This is happening at a time of severe drought in some countries.  

China's Infrastructure Challenges in East Africa

 The Diplomat published on 5 March 2022 a commentary titled "How China's Ambitious Belt and Road Plans for East Africa Came Apart" by David Skidmore, Drake University.

As China draws back from large scale infrastructure projects in Africa, the author looks at why some of the large Belt and Road Initiative efforts have struggled.  China's inability to manage the political complexities associated with infrastructure development account for the setbacks.  

Al-Shabaab Seen as Growing Threat to Americans

The New York Times published on 21 March 2020 an article titled "Al-Qaeda Branch in Somalia Threatens Americans in East Africa--And Even the U.S." by Eric Schmitt and Abdi Latif Dahir.

The article details increasing efforts by Somali-based al-Shabaab to attack Americans in East Africa and conceivably beyond.

China Is Pulling Back from East African Railway Financing

The ChinAfrica Project posted on 10 March 2020 an article titled "Why East Africa's Next Railways Won't be Built with Chinese Money" by Eric Olander.

China has turned down requests by Uganda and Kenya to finance railway construction in their respective countries, stating that the projects are not financially viable. As concerns in Africa increase over debt, China is taking a closer look at the projects that it agrees to finance.

Chinese Loans and East Africa

Kenya's The East African published on 27 April 2019 a piece titled "Editorial: Is the Well of Chinese Credit Really Bottomless?"

The editorial concludes that the dilemma of Chinese debt will only be resolved if the parties take a more critical look at how debt generates new value to support repayment.

Kenya's Daily Nation published on 26 April 2019 a similar editorial titled "SGR: Kenya Must Tame Its Appetite for Loans."

Referencing China's loans for railway projects, it concludes that Kenya must tame its appetite for loans and rethink its infrastructure development model.

Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism in East Africa and Somalia

The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) published in September 2018 a study titled "Preventing Extremism in the Horn of Africa: Preliminary Findings from Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda" by Denys Reva, Cheryl Frank and Isel van Zyl, all with ISS.

The study constitutes preliminary research on how the ideas behind preventing and countering violent extremism policy are being translated into practical projects and how these projects are being designed. The goal is to better understand the effectiveness of these projects.

China Moves Some Textile and Apparel Manufacturing to East Africa

The China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies published in August 2018 a policy brief titled "The East Africa Shift in Textile and Apparel Manufacturing: China-Africa Strategies and AGOA's Influence" by Weiyi Wang, International Finance Corporation, Jinghau Lu, business development expert, and Wilmot Allen, emerging market investor.

Some Chinese cotton-textile-apparel companies are moving to East Africa influenced by China's excess capacity, lower labor costs, duty-free incentives for exports to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and its related Third-Country Fabric Provision. This policy brief highlights several opportunities for both East Africa and China as influenced by AGOA and makes recommendations on public-private collaboration to support this shift.

China-India Competition in East Africa

The Christian Science Monitor published on 28 August 2017 an article titled "As China Ups Game in East Africa, India Tries to Guard 'Home Advantage'," by Rajiv Golla.

The article discusses engagement by China and India in East Africa, business competition and the desire by both countries to access oil and agricultural products.

Freedom of the Press 2017

Freedom House has just published its annual Freedom of the Press 2017 that measures media freedom in 199 countries and territories.

The report includes 50 entities in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Somaliland, which at position number 20 for Sub-Saharan Africa (111 globally) receives the best mark in East Africa and the Horn. The three East African countries (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) fall in the Sub-Saharan Africa mid range tied at position number 24. Globally, they tie for position 122. Countries in the Horn of Africa do less well. South Sudan ranks 34 (152 globally), Djibouti ranks 40 (165 globally), Somalia ranks 41 (170 globally), Ethiopia and Sudan tie for position 46 (183 globally), and Eritrea ranks last in Sub-Saharan Africa at position 50 (195 globally).

Reporters without Borders recently published its 2017 World Press Index. See the posting below dated 27 April 2017.

Articles on East Africa and the Horn

The Journal of Eastern African Studies is celebrating 10 years by posting on-line a number of articles that it has published over the last 10 years, including articles on Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, and Eritrea.

2016 African Private Equity Data Tracker

The African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association published in February 2017 its "2016 Annual Private Equity Data Tracker."

It recorded 919 private equity deals in Africa from 2011 through 2016 with a value of $22.7 billion. East Africa and the Horn received a respectable 18 percent of these deals but they accounted for only 8 percent of the dollar value of the deals. By dollar value, multi-region deals led with 36 percent, West Africa with 27 percent, southern Africa with 15 percent, North Africa with 13 percent, and Central Africa with 1 percent.

Somalia: Offshore Oil Prospects

GEO ExPro, a petroleum geoscience magazine, published in its most recent edition a technical article titled "Offshore Somalia: East Africa's Oil Frontier" by Hannah Kearns, Jake Berryman, Neil Hodgson, and Karyna Rodriquez. It concluded that "Somalia is set to emerge as the new hot-spot for the industry, offering not only vast reserves to match the Rovuma Basin in Mozambique, but also the most elusive prices in East Africa - black oil."

Reuters then obtained comments about Somalia's oil prospects from a number of experts and published them on 7 November 2016 in an article titled "Prospect of Offshore Oil Offers Mixed Blessing for Somalia" by Ed Stoddard.

Is ISIS Making Inroads in East Africa?

The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) published on 22 September 2016 a commentary titled "Is ISIS Making Inroads in East Africa?" by Sarah Graveline, IDA research associate.

The author concludes that the Islamic State does not seem to have the capacity to compete directly with al-Shabaab, but has found support among some radicalized youth in the region.

Islamist Extremism in East Africa

The Africa Center for Strategic Studies published on 9 August 2016 a study titled "Islamic Extremism in East Africa" by Abdisaid M. Ali. The author concludes that militant Islamist ideology has recently expanded throughout the East African region.

Analysis of Turkish President Erdogan's Visit to East Africa

Al-Monitor published on 3 June 2016 an analysis titled "Erdogan Kicks Off African Tour with Creative History Lesson" by Fehim Tastekin.

The author offers a critical analysis of the rationale behind President Erdogan's recent visit to Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia, suggesting that Turkey has visions of a return to the Ottoman period.

East Africa's Sufi Path to Countering Violent Extremism

The International Crisis Group (ICG) published on 15 September 2015 a commentary titled "East Africa's Sufi Path to Countering Violent Extremism" by Rashid Abdi, Horn of Africa analyst with the ICG.  He argues that the wholesale demonization of Salafism by Sufi groups is not helpful.  Rather, Sufis should reach out and engage those Salifis who oppose violence. 

Ethiopia and Kenya Attract Apparel Buyers

McKinsey and Company published in August 2015 a study titled "East Africa: The Next Hub for Apparel Sourcing" by Achim Berg, Saskia Hedrich, and Bill Russo. 

The report points out that within Sub-Sahara Africa, East African countries--especially Ethiopia and Kenya, and to a lesser extent Uganda and Tanzania--are attracting apparel buyers such as H & M, Primark, and Tesco.  Over the next 3 years, Ethiopia is predicted to be the 7th top sourcing destination globally after Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Myanmar, Turkey, and China.  The U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act is contributing to this interest in the African countries as sources for garments. 

Happiness Index: East Africa and the Horn

The World Happiness Report 2015 edited by John Helliwell, Richard Layard, and Jeffrey Sachs has just been released.  Switzerland ranks as the happiest country.  The United States is number 15.  The report looks at the following six factors, which tend to favor high rankings for Western countries: GDP per capita, healthy years of life expectancy, social support, perceived absence of corruption, perceived freedom to make life decisions, and recent donations.

Of the 158 countries evaluated, most of those in Africa scored low.  In East Africa and the Horn, Somaliland scored best at 91, followed by Sudan at 118, Ethiopia at 122, Kenya at 125, Djibouti at 126, Uganda at 141, and Tanzania at 146.  There was no rating for Somalia, South Sudan or Eritrea.