The Great Divide: UK Horn of Africa Foreign Policy 2026 and Strategic Interests

Is the United Kingdom a broker of peace or a manager of interests? Its current stance in the Horn of Africa has sparked intense debate among analysts. While London's official rhetoric champions humanitarian accountability and national sovereignty, its actions on the ground reveal a complex entanglement in regional conflicts and commercial ventures that many see as contradictory.

UK Horn of Africa Foreign Policy 2026: The Sudan Dilemma

According to reports by Al Jazeera, the UK government has opted for what internal documents call the "least ambitious" approach to ending the bloodshed in Sudan. Despite the rising death toll in regions like Darfur, the UK is accused of being an "enabler" of aggression by failing to exert meaningful pressure on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Critics point to the UK's close relationship with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has been alleged by UN experts to support the RSF, as a primary reason for London's diplomatic hesitation.

Commercial Presence as Governance in Somaliland

Further east, the UK officially backs Somalia's territorial integrity but continues to hold a significant stake in the Berbera port within the breakaway region of Somaliland. Through British International Investment (BII), the UK co-owns this strategic gateway alongside the UAE-based firm DP World. This "dual-track" policy allows London to extract strategic and commercial value from Somaliland while avoiding the political cost of formal recognition, a move historians describe as "governance through commercial presence."