Horn of Africa Emerging as a strategic pivot of the Indian Ocean Region: need for repackaging SAGAR 2.0

ABSTRACT

Since the dawn of the twenty-first century, the Horn of Africa has undergone significant change. Presence of extra-regional powers has transformed the region into a strategic pivot of the Indian Ocean. But fractured societies of the region are in acute need of sustainable peace. Curiously, India’s engagements with the Horn have been confined to peacekeeping operations and anti-piracy patrols. As a member of the United Nations Security Council in 2021 and 2022, India could do more. Against this backdrop, this article examines the salience of the Horn of Africa as a strategic pivot. It assesses the challenges and opportunities for engaging a region that is steeped in geopolitics but yearns for sustainable peace. It seeks to develop a framework for India’s engagement in the Horn of Africa by evaluating the complementarities between the United Nations agenda of sustaining-peace and India’s vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region.

KEYWORDS:

• SAGAR
• Horn of Africa
• sustainable peace
• Indian Ocean Region

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The U.S. government has decided to cut its aid to Ethiopia by USD 100 mn and accused Ethiopia of pressing ahead with filling the GERD dam before addressing Egypt’s and Sudan’s concerns about the flow of water (BBC, 2020).

2 One humanity for Shared responsibilities – one: political leadership to prevent and end conflicts; two: uphold the norms that safeguard humanity; three: leave no one behind; four: change people’s lives; five: from delivering aid to ending need; and six: invest in humanity (UNGA, 2016).

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Notes on contributors

Somen Banerjee

Somen Banerjee is serving in the Indian Navy. He has been a Senior Fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation and the National Maritime Foundation. He has authored two books – Maritime Power through Blue Economy (2018) and Sea of Collective Destiny: Bay of Bengal and BIMSTEC (2019).