{"id":34811,"date":"2018-10-31T13:25:03","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T07:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=34811"},"modified":"2018-10-31T13:25:03","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T07:55:03","slug":"india-and-djiboutis-geopolitical-scrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/india-and-djiboutis-geopolitical-scrum\/","title":{"rendered":"India and Djibouti\u2019s geopolitical scrum:\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/raja-mandala-india-and-djiboutis-geopolitical-scrum-ram-nath-kovind-abroad-visit-4871697\/\">India and Djibouti\u2019s geopolitical scrum<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Indian President Ram Nath Kovind\u2019s first visit abroad to Djibouti and Ethiopia suggests India\u2019s realization of geopolitical significance of a region, the Horn of Africa.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Who all are the constituents of the Horn?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The four different states constituting the Horn \u2014<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\u00a0 Somalia,<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Ethiopia,<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Eritrea and<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Djibouti<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Also, Yemen across the Red Sea is described as one of the world\u2019s pivotal regions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What does the visit signify?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>India does not have an embassy in Djibouti. The president\u2019s visit suggests Delhi is now ready to end its prolonged neglect of Djibouti and re-engage the region strategically.<\/li>\n<li>The emphasis is on \u201cre-engagement\u201d, for modern India has a long tradition of critical involvement in the Horn.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What is the importance of the Horn for India?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Djibouti\u2019s location at the confluence of the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean and the crossroads connecting Africa, the Middle East and Asia is of utmost importance.<\/li>\n<li>The barren land with population less than a million, the region\u2019s multiple conflicts, both interstate and intrastate have made it a very attractive piece of geopolitical real estate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>China\u2019s development in the Horn<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Beijing\u2019s infrastructure development in the Horn led to the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative by President Xi Jinping.<\/li>\n<li>One of the more visible infrastructure projects in the region has been the 750 km-long rail link between landlocked Ethiopia and Djibouti.<\/li>\n<li>China\u2019s geopolitical interest in the Horn has come into sharp focus over the last decade with the regular deployment of naval units to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden.<\/li>\n<li>As per an accord signed last year, Beijing has secured the rights to a base in Djibouti that can host up to 10,000 soldiers until 2026. This is the first ever foreign military base for China.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What is the current scenario?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Many regional powers are now trying to shape the strategic landscape of the Horn through military bases and armed interventions.<\/li>\n<li>Djibouti has reported to host military facilities of Saudi Arabia and Qatar; Eritrea has bases for UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar; UAE and Turkey have facilities in different regions of Somalia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Where does India stand?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>India is somewhat late in joining the journey for political influence in this critical corner of the Indian Ocean.<\/li>\n<li>The President\u2019s visit will hopefully lay the foundations for a comprehensive engagement with Djibouti and the Horn of Africa<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India and Djibouti\u2019s geopolitical scrum: Context Indian President Ram Nath Kovind\u2019s first visit abroad to Djibouti and Ethiopia suggests India\u2019s realization of geopolitical significance of a region, the Horn of Africa. Who all are the constituents of the Horn? The four different states constituting the Horn \u2014 \u00a0 Somalia, \u00a0 Ethiopia, \u00a0 Eritrea and \u00a0&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/india-and-djiboutis-geopolitical-scrum\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">India and Djibouti\u2019s geopolitical scrum:\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704890035},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}