Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | An Aspect of the Geo-Politics of the Red Sea |
Author: | Kendie, Daniel |
Year: | 1990 |
Periodical: | Northeast African Studies |
Volume: | 12 |
Issue: | 2-3 |
Pages: | 117-131 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Red Sea Ethiopia Eritrea Arab countries |
Subjects: | separatism foreign policy Inter-African Relations international relations Law, Human Rights and Violence |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/43660318 |
Abstract: | This paper examines the Eritrean conflict from the perspective of the Arab-Israeli dispute. Because of its geographic location, the Red Sea extends geopolitically beyond its geographic limits, and therefore, it affects the interests of all nations that are connected with it geographically, economically, politically, and strategically. Hence, it should not be surprising if some of the major problems of the Horn of Africa, like the Eritrean conflict, have become extensions of the conflicts in the Middle East and of those of East and West. The paper first argues that the Egyptian/Arab claim to the Red Sea has no historical, legal or geographic roots. Then it examines why matters related to the Red Sea suddenly became a central topic of Arab interest in the 1970s. There are three possible reasons: 1) religious solidarity, 2) blocking Israeli navigation on the Red Sea (once Eritrea attains statehood it is assumed that control of the Red Sea by the Arabs would be a relatively simple matter and that is why many Arab governments had to champion the cause of Eritrean independence); 3) Arabizing Eritrea. In conclusion, the author presents suggestions for a solution to the Eritrean conflict, and its implications for Ethiopia. Notes, ref. |