Sudan, Red Sea and GCC Proxy Dynamics

Sudan's war and the wider Red Sea region as an arena of Gulf and Egyptian rivalry and cooperation, covering support for the warring Sudanese parties, Red Sea security arrangements, ports and corridors in the Horn of Africa, and Gulf financial and political influence there.

Sudan has become both a covert front in the Saudi-UAE rivalry and a focus of competing GCC institution-building, as Riyadh and Cairo work to preserve a unified Sudanese state.

This topic page tracks the launch of the Saudi-Sudanese Joint Strategic Cooperation Council under MBS and Burhan, Egypt's strategy to weaken the RSF through defections and prevent fragmentation within the Quintet political track, Cairo's management of the UAE dimension, the UAE's expanding Somaliland and Berbera export-corridor play along the Horn of Africa, Saudi support for Burhan, and the Saudi-Egypt Red Sea energy-security coordination.

Essential for Horn of Africa analysts, Red Sea shipping desks and Gulf-Africa policy strategists.