On July 3, 2019, at least 53 people were killed in a bombing of a migrant and refugee camp near Tripoli, the Libyan capital. The Libyan government's interior minister declared that the bombing was carried out by United Arab Emirates (UAE) fighters supporting the rebels and called the UAEBlame.Although the UAE does not admit it, the U.S. Department of Defense and the UN Security Council are aware that the UAE and Egypt conducted secret bombings in Libya in 2014.indicative andThe UAE is said to have interfered in many other areas, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, from all sides, military and political. What is the UAE's motive in pursuing a diplomatic strategy of continuous intervention in many countries? And what kind of interventions are they actually making?

UAE fighter jet (Photo: Aaron Allmon/Public Domain)

United Arab Emirates: About UAE

The UAE is a small country in West Asia facing the Persian Gulf on the north coast of the Arabian Peninsula. After the British declared their withdrawal from the east of Suez in 1968, there was a growing momentum for integration among the seven emirates, and the country was established in 1971. The country is widely known as a source of natural resources, and its oil reserves are among the world's largest.Seventh placeThe world's natural gas market is also expected to grow by approximately 48.3 billion barrels, up fromSeventh placeSince the discovery of oil in Abu Dhabi in 1959, a large number of oil fields have been discovered throughout the country, which has led to rapid economic development in the UAE. Currently, the country exports large quantities of oil to countries such as Japan and India.

With this development, many workers of other nationalities came to live and work in all kinds of industries, especially in oil-related companies, and even today, UAE nationals are still the largest group in the total population of the country.12%.The UAE has the highest net migration rate of any nation in the world, with less than It still accounts for a GDP ofApprox. 30(2017) dependent on natural resources, and in 2018, the country launched an economic policy for a "post-oil" economy by 2021. The UAE is also recognized as a tax haven, and in March 2019, the European Union (EU) placed the country on its blacklist of tax havensAdded.The following is a list of the most common problems with the

Based on Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 3.0 DE]

While each emirate has been governed under a monarchy with independence since its establishment, the nation as a whole is strongly characterized as a dictatorship. Among the emirates, the capital, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai are the most influential, with Abu Dhabi being the most powerful. The president, who is considered the king, is elected every five years, but in practice the succession is hereditary, and the current president, Khalifa bin Zayed, inherited the position from his father, who had been president since the founding of the country in 2004, and has reigned at the top of the country for more than 15 years. However, after the president suffered a stroke in 2014, Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, who is expected to become the next president, has assumed authority over the country and has taken control of the country under an absolute monarchy.

Dubai, too, has been influential, with a hereditary vice president and prime minister, but in the past, when Dubai was in financial trouble, Abu Dhabi provided financial assistance on two occasions, bringing the total toUS$30 billionThe UAE's debt load has been so high that Abu Dhabi has further solidified its position as the leader in the UAE. According to Freedom in the World, a measure of political freedom, Abu Dhabi has a score of 100 on a scale of 100 to 100.17 pointsIt is rated as low as

Oil drilling equipment being moved at an oil field in Abu Dhabi (Photo: Guilhem Vellut/Flickr [CC BY 2.0])

Diplomatic Strategy of the UAE

So what kind of diplomatic strategy does the UAE have? It appears to have interests that lead to several proactive strategies, as explained below.

The first thing that can be mentioned is the desire to secure oil export routes. As mentioned earlier, the UAE has relied on oil and natural gas for a large part of its economy. Since the export of natural resources is the cornerstone of the economy,Securing export routeshas been positioned as one of the most important diplomatic strategies.

Next on the list is opposition to Iran. Since its founding, the UAE has established relations with neighboring Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states, as well as the U.S. and the U.K., whose influence in the Middle East is strong. The conflict between Sunnis and Shiites in the Muslim world has intensified since the Iraq War started in 2003,Shia (sect of Islam)As Iran has sought to expand its influence in the Middle East, the UAE has come to view Iran as more of a threat than it has in the past, and the UAE has sought to strengthen its influence in the region to prevent Iran's growing power in Yemen and elsewhere.

In addition, "Arab Spring (revolutionary wave in the Arab world, 2010-2011)The outbreak of the "Arab Spring" will also have an impact on the UAE's foreign policy strategy: the Arab Spring that began in 2010 toppled long-term dictatorships one after another and triggered a wave of democratization. The UAE, wishing to preserve its regime, has been working to prevent the emergence of democratic movements in its own country, as well as in other countries, such as Egypt, Sudan, and Yemen.Stopping DemocratizationIt is believed that the company has begun to focus its efforts on

In addition to this, the UAE has been a major player in the fight against extremist militant groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS), as well as theMuslim Brotherhoodand other religious-based movements are also seen as a threat to the regime. As a result, it has become more focused on building foreign relations that can counter such groups in various ways, as exemplified by its intervention in Syria.

It was Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, mentioned earlier, who developed the aggressive diplomatic strategy that has been described so far. Because of his too aggressive and wide-ranging attempts to influence theThe most powerful rulers in the Arab worldHe is also said to have made his influence known outside the country. His foreign policy strategy reveals a desire to gain an advantage in relations with other countries amidst a complex set of interests. In particular, he is eager to strengthen his authority in the Middle East and North Africa. This seemingly unusual aggressiveness is evident in his specific interventions in other countries, which will be discussed in the next section and beyond.

Prince Mohammed bin Zayed meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin (Photo: President of Russia [)CC BY 4.0])

UAE Military Intervention

As exemplified by the bombing of Libyan facilities mentioned in the introduction, the UAE has intervened militarily in conflicts in several areas far from its own country, causing numerous casualties. Individual military interventions are described in detail below.

First on the list is the UAE's intervention in Libya, North Africa, which began in March 2011 when the UAE participated in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-led military operation to topple the Muammar Gaddafi dictatorship. Since then, the UAE has frequently interfered in Libya, intervening with airstrikes and providing weapons in the Libyan conflict that has lasted from 2014 to the present. To begin with, the Libyan conflict is a conflict between the UN-backed Government of National Accord, a rebel group known as the Libyan National Army led by former officer Khalifa Haftar, and other forces. While each country supports its own forces, the UAE has been supporting Haftar's forces since early 2016, when theEstablish a baseand later was implicated in the bombing of the capital, Tripoli.in the eyes of the publicBesides, as a diversion of weapons as well as military intervention, in June 2019, U.S.-made anti-tank missiles labeled by the UAE from a Libyan National Army base wereFindings.Libya has been designated an arms embargoed country by the United Nations. Libya is designated by the UN as an arms embargoed country, and although the UAE denies ownership of the missiles, if the missiles were imported from the US, it would be in violation of the UN arms embargo and the sales agreement with the US.

But it was in Yemen that the UAE intervened in a far more serious way than in Libya, where the UAE began to intervene militarily in the Yemeni conflict that began in 2014. The Yemen conflict was originally a confrontation between the Hadi transitional government faction, which controls the south, and the Houthi forces, which control the north, including the capital, but has been complicated by the intervention of Middle Eastern countries and the growing power of Al Qaeda/IS (for more information, see pastthis way (direction close to the speaker or towards the speaker)(Please refer to the article in the following section). The fighting has caused many internally displaced persons and refugees outside the country, and the deteriorating health situation due to starvation has become a problem. In addition, the conflict has caused horrific damage, including the spread of disease due to deteriorating sanitary conditions.

Since 2015, the UAE has participated in the conflict in Yemen as the center of a coalition with Saudi Arabia against the Houthis, supplying weapons bought from the United States, France, Australia, and other countries, as well as ground troopsFull-scale interventionThe UAE is the largest country in the world in terms of the number of soldiers sent to the UAE. The deployed soldiers were asked to mix with UAE soldiers in the ColombianEritreaSome of the soldiers were hired or brought in fromObvious.The "war" is a very important issue for the United States. They may not want to send their own soldiers to war zones with harsh conditions as much as possible, and if they can solve the problem by hiring them out for money, they may really want to do so. Also, they may be taking advantage of the turmoil to take over Socotra, an island in the south of Yemen, without any legitimate reason.We have it under control.This is also a major problem.

UAE troops in training (Photo: Ted Banks/Public Domain)

The last one I'll mention is the intervention in Syria: in September 2014, the U.S.-led intervention against IS inside Syria.Participation in bombingAfter such actions as the new, in November 2018, troops were sent to support Kurdish forces in Syria.Dispatch.It is said that the Kurdish forces are hostile to Turkey, and this deployment has exacerbated the conflict with Turkey, which has been at odds with the anti-Assad regime in the Syrian conflict that began in 2011.Attend a meetingSyria in December 2018, although it had beenReopen EmbassyThe country has been showing signs of compromise with the Assad regime, such as by making The coincidence of interests between Turkey and the rival Assad regime, as well as Syria's desire to weaken its influence over Iran, are believed to be behind the dispatch of troops to Syria.

Also, although UAE troops are not actually fighting, perhaps because of the deployment of troops in the Yemen conflict, they are conveniently located between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea,Somalilandand ... andEritreaand is building military bases in the region known as the Horn of Africa, plus a port for economic purposes.

Diplomatic pressure and interference in internal affairs

As mentioned at the beginning, the UAE has interfered in all internal affairs and exerted diplomatic pressure, as well as military intervention in many countries; in 2017, it joined hands with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to counter its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which it considers hostile, and announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Qatar, isolating the country from the Middle East The countries isolated themselves from the Middle East region. These countries drastically restricted the movement of people and goods, including not allowing Qatari aircraft to pass through their airspace, and the UAE attorney general stated that anyone sympathetic to Qatar or opposed to the UAE's position would be severely punished.speakerThe UAE has taken a particularly tough stance, taking a hard-line stance against the possibility of imprisonment or fines. In addition, the UAE has taken a particularly tough stance against the closure of the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera, which broadcasts in English and Arabic and has become one of the world's leading broadcasters.Requested.The following is a list of the most common problems with the

Muslim Brotherhood supporters sit in a mosque in Cairo, Egypt (2013) (Photo: H. Elrasam for VOA/Public Domain)

In addition to this, the UAE has also intervened in politics in other African countries. For Egypt, it arbitrarily created political unrest in 2013 against former President Mohamed Mursi, the first democratically elected president since the Arab Spring, and financed a group that staged a coup against the president.Obvious.. Since then and up to the present, it has strengthened its ties with the current president, President Abdul Fattah Abdul-Sisi, who took office after the coup. In addition, it has been in talks with Sudan's national army since the stage when the coup against former President Omar al-Bashir was being planned in the country, and has abandoned the regime it had supported for years by ceasing fuel supplies and financial aid, and has been complicit in plans to reverse the coup and consequently, in April 2019, topple the 30-year long administration.I finished it.It also continues to provide support to the national army, which is suppressing the civilian movement for democracy that grew after the coup.

What is your future foreign strategy?

However, mid-2019 has seen a change in the UAE government's past behavior. The first is the partial withdrawal of UAE troops from Yemen since June, which the UAE has attributed to "internal security reasons" and "strategic redeployment of the enemy.I'm doing it.In fact, however, other reasons can be inferred. In addition to the fact that the intervention has been costly and has not yielded much in the way of results, they are probably concerned about suspicions that arms shipments are being made to groups with ties to al-Qaeda, and about the mistreatment of detainees in southern Yemen. In this context, the UN has called the Yemeni conflict "The World's Greatest Humanitarian CrisisThe UAE's withdrawal from the conflict is also believed to be an attempt to curb the bad reputation of the UAE among the rest of the world, which has taken a hard-line stance on foreign policy, including its responsibility for exacerbating the conflict to such an extent. However, the UAE's foreign minister also said that the military will remain in the country, although it will partially withdrawStated.The "Southern Provisional Council," which continues to provide support, has been gaining strength, including the occupation of the presidential palace. In addition, the situation in Yemen is uncertain going forward, as the Southern Transitional Council, which continues to provide support, is growing in strength, including the occupation of the presidential palace, and although it has withdrawn its own soldiers, it is expected to continue providing military support.

The second is with Iran at the end of July.First meeting in six yearsThe first such meeting took place in the Persian Gulf, including the Strait of Hormuz. Although the talks were held for the purpose of maritime security amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran, especially in the Persian Gulf, including the Strait of Hormuz, the fact that the talks were held after six years of absence does not seem to indicate a diplomatic compromise toward Iran.

UAE troops aligning (Photo: U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos/Public Domain)

Are these recent actions by the UAE, which appear to be a softening of its stance, only a temporary strategy? Or are these actions a "change" that will lead to real peace of mind? We will need to keep a close watch on the UAE's actions.

Writer: Taku Okada

Graphic: Saki Takeuchi

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