The Multipolar Contest for Africa’s Eastern Region

The Horn of Africa endured scrambles before and between the two most commonly known. In the 1420s, the region experienced a proto-scramble with the arrival of the Chinese admiral, Zheng He, in Mogadishu, the oft-cited inspiration for Beijing’s triumphant return in recent years. In the 1940s the Horn played a central part in the overlooked scramble during the Second World War, when US President Franklin Roosevelt extended his lend-lease program to Ethiopia to stave off the Nazis’ rapidly advancing Afrika corps. Later, in the 1990s, the Horn became the site of two new scrambles, which continue to this day. From the East, China staged its return to the continent as then-president Jiang Zemin launched his ‘Go Out’ policy in Sudan. From the West, the US drafted its new world order of liberal interventionism and anti-terrorism as it sent black hawks into Mogadishu and cruise missiles into Sudan.