By Fortune Madondo
Djibouti is a tiny African nation, host to global military giants. This tiny, coastal nation of Djibouti, in East Africa, specifically, Horn of Africa (HoA) has emerged as a geopolitically strategic area which has seen global military giants having military bases miles of each other.
Why?
Because Djibouti sits at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, where 12% of global trade passes, one of the most strategic choke points of global trade to the Red Sea and Suez Canal.As a result, Djibouti is the only place or country in the entire world hosting over eight (5 plus) foreign military bases of different and competing global powers on its soil.
Foreign Military Bases in Djibouti
- United States of America (US) Base
Camp Lemonnier, located at the Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport. It was established in 2002 and is the largest, permanent US military facility in Africa. It is the primary operational hub for US Africa Command (AFRICOM) in the region.
- China Base
People’s Liberation Army Support Base was established in 2017. The first China overseas military base. It provides support for Chinese vessels on various missions.
- France Base
Base Aérienne 188. It is France’s largest overseas military presence. This is a product of France – Djibouti relationship stemming from the nation’s independence in 1977.
- Japan Base
Japan Self-Defence Force Base Djibouti. It was opened in 2011 and was Japan’s first military base since the end of World War II in 1945.
- Italy Base
Base Militare Nazionale Amedeo Guillet (National Support Base). Opened in 2012, its purpose is providing operational and logistical support for Italy and her allies missions in the region.
- Germany Base
German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) do not have a permanent military base in Djibouti. However, Germany maintains a strategic, ongoing military presence and a support element operating out of the French Naval Airbase in Djibouti.
- Spain Base
Just like Germany, Spain does not have its own standalone military base in Djibouti, but it maintains a continuous military presence by sharing French and allied facilities.
Other Powers
Russia, for example, does not have a military base in Djibouti though Russian warships routinely resupply at Djibouti’s ports and have been granted access to dock at the Chinese naval base in the country. Russia has expressed interest in constructing naval bases in Djibouti; however, it has been unsuccessful in its efforts and those talks have stalled.
Saudi Arabia and India have expressed a strong interest in having military bases in Djibouti.
History of Djibouti Nation
Djibouti was formed amidst late 19th century imperial colonial power competition and rivalry. Competition was for accessing and controlling the major trade route by then, the Suez Canal. It all started with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. Imperial colonial powers jostled for access and control of the Suez Canal for shipping trade. This marked the beginning of French interest in the area (now Djibouti). In the late 19th century through treaties signed between 1883 and 1887 with local Afar and Issa Somali Sultans, Djibouti became a French territory with the aim of establishing a French foothold in the Horn of Africa.
From 1888–1967, the colony, was formally known as French Somaliland, with its capital moved to Djibouti City in 1892. It was subsequently renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas in 1967.
A decade later, the Djiboutian people voted for independence, officially marking the establishment of the Republic of Djibouti on June 27, 1977. In the contemporary world, Djibouti remains a site of the 21st century scramble for control of chokepoints and geopolitical control. The result is “tiny Djibouti” hosting at least five (5 plus) major foreign military bases.
Djibouti Proximity To Geostrategic Chokepoint
Djibouti is geostrategically located near a strategic chokepoint…..the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. The Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, is a shipping maritime route of the Gulf of Aden. Djibouti acts as gateway between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, making it crucial for international shipping.
The location controls over 20,000 ships annually, transporting 20% of global trade and 10% of global oil. Geopolitically, Djibouti serves as a crucial military hub for foreign powers including the US, China, France, among many other powers.
Djibouti proximity to conflict areas in the Middle East and East Africa, and piracy risks makes it an ideal place for foreign powers seeking to have a convenience and upper hand in dealing with conflict areas.
Djibouti as a country offers a stable base for counter-terrorism efforts, peacekeeping operations, and humanitarian aid in the HoA and the Red Sea region. It is precisely because of these commercial and geopolitical benefits that, Djibouti has emerged as the ,”hub of rivalry” between foreign nations to *build airstrips, training camps, ports, bases, and logistics centres, as well as naval forces* , attracting international funds and investments.
Small State Diplomacy
Small state diplomacy is the strategic, practical, agile foreign policy used by nations with limited population, economic, or military power (small nations) to *maximize* their *influence* and *security*.
Djibouti can pass out as a good textbook case of a nation making use and surviving because of the use of “Small State Diplomacy”. Demographically, geographically size and politics have conspired to make Djibouti a very “tiny, weak and ineffectual small state”.
Located on the bridgehead between the poorest part of Africa and Arabia, Djibouti is continentally, one of the smallest African states by geography and by population size, ranked forty-seven (47) out of fifty-four (54) African countries.
Djibouti has an estimated area of 23,200 km² / 8,958 sq mi. Demographically, Djibouti has an estimated population of 1.1 million people. Djibouti has limited traditional mineral and fossil fuel resources but is rich in geothermal energy, solar potential, and salt.
Because 89% of the land is desert and water is scarce, the economy relies heavily on its strategic geographic position for trade and port services, and of late military bases for foreign powers.
Sandwiched between two large states, Ethiopia and Somalia, Djibouti is making use of “small state diplomacy” modalities, in an attempt to transform its weaknesses and liabilities into a lucrative “resource”.
Utilizing its relative stability, proximity to Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea to accommodate big military global powers to strategically secure investments and survival in an otherwise hostile, conflict ridden environment of the region.
Thus, Djibouti is *hosting external military facilities in order to secure economic investment* and *forge alliances* , increasing the nation’s survival and visibility.
Merits of Hosting Foreign Military Bases
Observers and commentators have argued that hosting foreign military bases brings out a combination of economic and political benefits.
Economic Benefits
1. Direct rent.
Djibouti in estimation roughly receives in excess of US $125 million to US$300 million annually, accounting for 10% of Djibouti’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
2. Infrastructural development.
Expansion and maintenance of foreign military bases, comes with key projects including specialized port facilities, air terminal upgrades, and secured logistical hubs. For example, the Chinese built Port facilities, a specialized 330-metre pier at the Port of Doraleh.
At Ambaouli area, it is pointed out that Japan invested roughly USD$30 million to construct its first permanent post-World War II (WWII) military base in Djibouti.
3. Economic “Trickle Effects”.
Observers argue that the presence of foreign troops creates a demand for goods, services, housing, and local employment, boosting local businesses and creating a “rentier” economic structure and boosting the “service economy”.
Political Benefits
1. Security & Diplomatic Influence.
Enhanced security, diplomatic influence, and foreign aid.
2. Deterrent.
In a volatile region with an unending history of insurgency groups, the presence of powerful foreign militaries acts as a deterrent against external aggression. For example, it is argued that France has a defence cooperation treaty that includes a commitment to safeguarding Djibouti’s sovereignty.
3. International stature and recognition
Diplomacy and Security scholars highlight that Djibouti’s international stature and recognition is elevated due to hosting foreign military bases. Djibouti’s hosting of foreign military bases is said to have increased the ” *small, coastal nation* ” in the HoA diplomatic significance, giving it a larger voice in regional issues and strengthening alliances with major powers.
4. Dealing with terrorism
Foreign powers help with counterterrorism, anti-piracy, and monitoring territorial waters activities.
Demerits of hosting foreign military bases
1. Foreign Interests
These bases, often focused on foreign interests rather than local stability, can lead to the “overcrowding” of security landscapes, disrupt local communities, and entangle African countries in global geopolitical competition.
2. Impeding sovereignty
Foreign bases can impede sovereign decision-making and subject local foreign policy to the interests of powerful, distant actors.
3. Proxy war battlefields
African host nations like Djibouti risk becoming a new Cold War battlefield, with foreign militaries competing for influence, resources, and strategic advantages.
4. Over-reliance/dependency
Expansion of foreign military activities may create insecurity, displace communities, and increase reliance on foreign powers.
5. Adversarial in Assumption of Equal Belligerence
This is a strategic and legal perspective that assumes that, all parties involved in a conflict—or hosting foreign military bases—are equally committed to, and legally responsible for, the resulting actions and hostilities.
This perspective holds that once a country hosts foreign military bases or engages in supporting a party to a conflict, it becomes co-belligerent and loses its neutral status.
Precisely on that premise, in the recent Israel/US war against Iran, the Tehran administration has been justifying retaliatory attacks on its neighbouring Gulf states harbouring US military infrastructure and bases.
It is again from such a perspective, that in future global armed conflicts, Africa can be vulnerable, find itself exposed and at risk of being legitimate target by virtue of hosting foreign military bases for certain Western powers. Therefore, the danger is that African countries hosting foreign military bases are exposed and risk being co-belligerents in future armed conflicts.
It is because of this that the African Union’s Peace and Security Council warned African member states. Precisely, ten (10) years ago to date, on the 2nd April of 2016, African Union (AU)’s Peace and Security Council called on African member states to be “circumspect when entering into military base agreements “, that would lead to establishment of foreign military bases in their countries.
The Council noted concern with the growing number of foreign military bases on the continent and rumours of more new ones to be established.
Afterthought
To date, thirteen (13) plus African countries have a foreign military base or presence in Africa. Majority of these military bases are in Djibouti (described as base capital of Africa) and the Sahel/Horn of Africa region.
Bases are a symptom, not a solution, a symptom of modern day manifestation of neo-colonialism that compromises African sovereignty, exacerbates regional conflicts, and serves external resource extraction interests.
Such foreign military bases also psychologically project foreign power rather than genuinely support local security in Africa. This partly explains why in the Sahel (Niger and Chad) have moved to expel Western troops and close foreign bases in order to reclaim their strategic independence.
Such military bases would be more useful and or much “help” to Africa if they were temporary, under the AU command. “African-owned” base model instead of leasing to outside powers, unfortunately, most of such military installations or bases are a result of bilateral deals, not under the African (AU) command.
This is a reality which has seen the AU and its Peace and Security Council having to repeatedly and constantly voice deep concern over the unchecked proliferation of foreign military bases on the African continent.
Another worrying fact is the question, why is the issue of foreign military bases in Africa a “one–way street”? Africa hosts foreign military bases but does not have a single or plan of having a military base in Europe, Asia, or the Americas.
Tricontinental Institute for Social Research pointed out this obvious and glaring imbalance. Through military bases, Africa is renting out its land instead of controlling it. Through bilateral agreements to have military bases in its territory, Africa is empowering foreign interests with a platform, strategy or instrument to extract African wealth or resources. Through hosting foreign military bases, Africa is psychologically projecting the perception that on its own Africa is weak, and in need of protection and security of foreign power/s.
F. Madondo (African Teacher) fortmada123@gmail.com
