- A United Arab Emirates military base in the self-declared republic of
Somaliland will begin operating by June and include a
coastal-surveillance system, according to a diplomat involved in talks
for the facility.
The
U.A.E. is growing its military presence in the Horn of Africa to help
protect trade flows through the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a key shipping
lane used by oil tankers and other cargo vessels en route to the Suez
Canal. Emirati footholds in Somaliland and Eritrea provide strategic locations as the U.A.E. supports the Saudi Arabia-led war against Houthi rebels in Yemen.




















