The #UAE’s rising influence in Africa

The UAE’s rising influence in Africa

When Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, jetted several hundred friends into a private airport in the Eastern Cape province to celebrate Eid last year, it showed both the promise and pitfalls in dealing with a new cash-rich player in Africa. 

Ahead of a stay at his private resort in one of South Africa’s poorest regions, the UAE ruler was reported to have donated R20mn ($1mn) to upgrade the runway at the backwater airport, which the authorities made an international port of entry for the occasion. 

But despite the mutual display of goodwill, South Africa had failed to convince the UAE to turn over the Gupta brothers, accused by South African authorities of looting the state. The Guptas had fled to the Emirates in 2018 but around two weeks before Sheikh Mohammed was touring the Eastern Cape, a Dubai court refused to extradite two of the brothers citing incorrect paperwork, a ruling South Africa’s justice minister described as “shocking”. 

The fact that South Africa nevertheless rolled out the red carpet for Sheikh Mohammed and his entourage is a sign of just how influential the UAE has become there and across the continent — and an illustration of the complexities this new alignment can sometimes bring. 

As China pares back loans to Africa, the oil-rich Gulf state has become an increasingly important source of foreign investment. In 2022 and 2023, the UAE pledged $97bn in new African investments across renewable energy, ports, mining, real estate, communications, agriculture and manufacturing — three times more than China, according to fDi Markets, an FT-owned company tracking cross-border greenfield projects.