Saudi Arabia seeks to form new alliance to control Red Sea, Gulf of Aden

SANAA, Dec. 13 (YPA) -Saudi Arabia seeks to control the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden by forming an alliance with its riparian states.

Representatives from Egypt, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan and Jordan, as well as the exiled Hadi regime, have met in Riyadh on Wednesday, December 12, in order to discuss the initiative, so far without reaching a final agreement.

According to a group of experts, the group of nations is expected to meet in Cairo for technical talks. This alliance of aggressive imperialist states and their puppet regimes could be a proactive step to thwart any peace agreement on the Yemeni crisis or any positive results of recent talks in Sweden.

Eritrea, which has islands in the Red Sea and a coastline of 1150 kilometres, has so far refused to attend the meetings of the suggested imperialist alliance.

Ethiopia, which has no access to any offshore outlets, has not participated, despite having the largest population in the Horn of Africa region.

“This comes as part of the kingdom’s efforts to protect its interests and those of its neighbors,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir told reporters after a day of closed-door meetings. The Saudi regime has a tendency of calling its military and economic expansionism part of “defense” of its “interests”.

The Red Sea region and the Gulf of Aden are a strategic area of vital importance for global navigation and an increasingly competitive arena of regional and international competitors, including the United States of America. Many analysts believe the Saudi invasion of Yemen to be at least partially resulting from Riyadh’s wish to control the crucial sea trade in the region.

For the United States, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are its closest Gulf allies near the Horn of Africa. The nearby Yemeni coast and Bab al-Mandab strait which an estimated 3.2 million barrels of oil a day pass to Europe, the United States and Asia.

E.M