In recent years, the UAE has been at the vanguard of Gulf states pledging billions of dollars in investments and aid money to gain influence in Africa.
Photographer: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images
The UAE in Africa: Power, Influence and Conflict
The Gulf nation has built a logistical network to project power in countries surrounding Sudan that includes field hospitals and airstrips, according to regional diplomats, analysts and officials.
On November 23, Sheikh Shakhboot bin Nahyan Al Nahyan, a top diplomat for the United Arab Emirates, landed in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, with an offer for President Faustin-Archange Touadéra.
In return for access to airstrips in the impoverished country’s remote east, the wealthy Gulf state would invest in the African nation’s defense, mining and agriculture sectors, according to two CAR officials familiar with the talks and two senior Western officials briefed on the matter.