The post-Hormuz era offers Africa a great opportunity

What the report says

Al Jazeera opinion writer Rafael Shikhani argues that Africa could gain strategic and economic leverage in what he describes as a “post-Hormuz era,” as disruption around the Strait of Hormuz underscores the vulnerability of global energy and shipping routes. The piece says African economies have already felt the effects of wider maritime instability, despite the continent’s large reserves of oil, gas and other resources.

The article says Africa’s challenge is not a lack of assets or policy documents, but a failure to turn maritime awareness into coordinated action. It points to long-standing habits of treating the sea as a boundary rather than a domain for security, trade and influence, along with fragmentation between states, high costs, and continued reliance on foreign navies and external security arrangements. It also notes that different regions face different threats, including piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, illegal fishing and trafficking in the Western Indian Ocean, and migration pressures in the Mediterranean.

Shikhani says the African Union’s 2050 Integrated Maritime Strategy and the 2016 African Charter on Maritime Security and Safety show that a framework already exists, but implementation remains weak. He argues that Africa should build a common maritime policy, improve surveillance and joint patrols, and create its own financing tools. The article says a coalition of coastal anchor states, working through regional bodies, could help move the agenda forward.

The broader significance, as presented by Al Jazeera, is that Africa’s location between major sea corridors could become a source of geopolitical influence if governments coordinate more effectively and invest in shared maritime capacity.