Divide and Conquer: The UAE Expands Its Influence By Promoting Division

US President Donald Trump and the United Arab Emirates recently signed a deal that would establish one of the world’s biggest AI campuses in Abu Dhabi. American companies will operate the data centers, which will provide services to everyone who lives within 2,000 miles of the UAE – almost half of the world’s population. 

Meanwhile, the UAE’s riches draw the leaders from throughout the region, hat in hand. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun recently visited, for example, to request that the UAE lifts a travel ban on his country imposed after Lebanese leaders in Hezbollah joined Hamas in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dating to October 7, 2023, the Atlantic Council wrote. It also wanted to lure the country into supporting Lebanon’s reconstruction, five years after the collapse of its financial system. The UAE took tentative steps to help, promising to assess future investments, the think tank added.  

At the same time, the UAE has also become a major investor in Africa, the region that has room for enormous economic development such that it would magnify the global economy significantly, added the Guardian. In recent years, Emirati companies have spent $110 billion, including $72 billion on renewable energy projects. That amount was more than double the investment of British, Chinese, or French companies. 

This economic activity in Africa has run parallel with greater strategic cooperation. UAE military and intelligence officials have sought to combat Islamist terrorists and extremist groups in the region, protect its economic interests, and counter geopolitical rivals in Africa, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. 

Even as the country continues its rise as a regional power, extending its influence as far as possible throughout the Middle East and, increasingly, beyond, controversies and criticism have arisen as a result.  

For example, Emirati bosses in Africa and elsewhere are accused of trampling on human rights and workers’ rights, and flouting the rule of law, for example, in the construction projects that have made Dubai a world-class destination, wrote Human Rights Watch. The organization’s researchers depicted the Persian Gulf country as maintaining an illusion of free markets and liberty, while cracking down on dissent.  

At the same time, Sudan’s leaders filed suit at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, accusing the UAE of supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group which has committed genocide in Darfur amid Sudan’s civil war – a blight on the country’s influence in Africa, CNN noted. The suit was recently dismissed on jurisdictional issues. The UAE denied the charges. 

Still, as the Economist noted, “The UAE preaches unity at home but pursues division abroad: It is carving out a sphere of influence through militias who carve up Arab states.” 

For example, it sides with and supports the RSF in Sudan, Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar, who has tried to overthrow the United Nations-backed government in Tripoli, the Yemeni secessionist group, the Southern Transitional Council, and the leaders in Puntland and Somaliland, two breakaway republics in Somalia. 

The activists aren’t alone, though. Powerful people in Washington, DC, are concerned at the country’s rise. For example, some American leaders were worried about Trump’s recent deal to sell chips and AI technology to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the New York Times explained, because they fear China and other rivals of the US would have better access to the strategic tech via the Gulf country. 

At the same time, some Democratic lawmakers are trying to block weapons sales to the country because of concerns over the UAE meddling in other conflicts. 

Still, with the country attempting to diversify its economy and having a lot to offer investors, analysts say it’s on an upward trajectory. Recently, for example, it was chosen to be the location of the newest Disney theme park, Disneyland Abu Dhabi. 

“We did study the region very carefully and we know that we had many opportunities,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger. “And so, it was very, very clear to us that of all of the places that we could choose from, there didn’t seem to be any place that was better than this.”