Context: Recently, the first China-Horn of Africa Peace, Governance and Development Conference was held in Ethiopia.

Key Points

• Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, South Sudan, and Uganda attended the conference.
• China has been investing across the African continent throughout the last decade.
• Projects between China and Horn countries from the Horn of Africa

China’s Foreign Minister and State Councillor asserted China’s three main objectives in Africa:

1. Controlling the Covid-19 pandemic.
2. Implementing a Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) outcomes.
3. Upholding common interests while fighting hegemonic politics. 

Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)

• It promotes China’s role in the infrastructural and societal development of the Horn.
• In the 2021 forum, the entire region of the Horn participated and four resolutions were adopted:

The Dakar Action Plan

• The China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035
• The Sino-African Declaration on Climate Change
• The Declaration of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of FOCAC

2035 vision for China-Africa cooperation

• It aims to transform the health sector, alleviate poverty, promote trade and investments, and expand digital innovation.
• It focuses on green development, capacity building, improving people-to-people exchanges, and facilitating peace and security in the continent.

China’s interest in the Horn of Africa

China is focussing mainly on four major areas. These are:

• Infrastructural projects

• Financial assistance
• Natural resources
• Maritime interests

It has made significant investments in railways.

• It is building the Addis-Djibouti railway line connecting the land-locked country with Eritrean ports in the Red Sea.
• It has invested in the Mombasa-Nairobi rail link in Kenya and has already delivered on railway projects in Sudan.
• It also has a viable military hardware market in Ethiopia and has built over 80 infrastructural projects in Somalia, including hospitals, roads, schools, and stadiums.
• In Djibouti, 14 infrastructural projects are funded by China.
• China has invested $400 million in Mombasa’s oil terminal.
• It is also interested in minerals such as gold, iron ore, precious stones, chemicals, oil, and natural gas in Ethiopia.
• South Sudan, a source of petroleum products, has had continued Beijing investment in the industry since the latter’s initial entry in 1995.
• China’s first and only military base outside its mainland is in Djibouti.

Horn of Africa

• The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in Northeast Africa.
• It is lying along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden.
• The area is the easternmost projection of the African continent.
• The Horn of Africa denotes the region containing the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.
• Part of the Horn of Africa region is also known as the Somali peninsula.
• It is almost equidistant from the equator and the Tropic of Cancer.
• The area has experienced imperialism, neo-colonialism, Cold War, ethnic strife, intra-African conflict, poverty, disease, famine, and much else.

African Union

• It is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa.
• The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union.
• The bloc was founded on 26 May 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• Its secretariat, the African Union Commission, is based in Addis Ababa.
• The primary working languages are Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Kiswahili.

Indian footprints in the region

• India has been paying greater attention to the region but still lags behind China.
• India has bolstered defence cooperation with Oman and France (which holds territories in the Southwestern Indian Ocean).
• It has signed logistics support agreements with these countries to ensure greater naval access in the region.
• Reportedly, India was in talks with Japan to grant access to Indian naval vessels at the Japanese base in Djibouti.
• India has also sought to open a military base in the Seychelles and plans to further enhance its naval presence in the Western Indian Ocean.
• These efforts are directed to increase Indian leverage and limit Chinese influence in the region.

Lessons for India

• China’s move towards peace in Africa indicates a shift in its principle of non-intervention.
• It is China’s message that its presence in the continent has a larger objective and is not likely to be limited to the Horn of Africa.
• This includes an aim to project itself as a global leader and boost its international status.
• Further, the recent developments imply that China is focussing on a multifaceted growth in the continent for the long run.