The West Asian war is no longer a distant geopolitical issue in the Horn of Africa States region (HAS). It is presenting itself as a new existential tremor that must force governments of the region to recalculate and remeasure. It is not clear if they are aware of the changes going around them and the impact this may have on the region. They are mostly in an election mood. There is a new militarised order, with the countries of the region not only facing their own internal fractures but also a real international theater of power politics, which is being rewritten, right under their noses.

The region is, indeed, confronted by hyper-inflation, fragmented sovereignty and a seemingly aggressive expansion of West Asian security matters. As the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab El Mandab both become active combat zones of a war between non-regional parties, it would seem this is seriously affecting the economic arteries of the region. For a region that imports all of its fuel and a significant portion of its food, this must be representing a catastrophic situation. Three of the countries are in an election period where the throes of political mishandling can add significantly to the chaos, which the West Asian war has inadvertently imposed of the region in terms of inflation, severance of supply chains and perhaps spill over of the war into the region, should it still continue longer.

The radical pressures which were linked to a reconfiguration of the region through West Asian influences, mostly from the UAE, seems to be currently on a pause as the country itself struggles for its own survival. The UAE must be feeling the pains, it was causing........

© Eurasia Review