Thanks for your comment, Salaroche. Sandwiched may have not been the best verb to use, but at its closest, Yemen is less than 20 miles away from Djibouti. Yemen is as critical a neighbour for Djibouti as Eritrea.

The Horn of Africa is more than a geographic region. Culturally, socially and politically, Yemen has a great deal in common with Djibouti, and the long established trade and sea links between the two are in many ways as important as those that tie Yemen to its land neighbours on the Arabian peninsula.

Mr. Verjee:

Thank you for your reply. Yes, there may be some important cultural, social and political similarities between Yemen and Djibouti, but Yemen remains part of the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti remains part of the Horn of Africa. Anyone referring to both as part of the same geographical area may be perceived as stretching their imagination a bit thin.

To elaborate, there may be a few cultural, social and political similarities between Spain and its former colonies in the Northern, Central and Southern regions of the American Continent, but we still refer to Spain as part of the European Continent and we refer to the former colonies in question as part of the American Continent.

True, the Gulf of Aden is quite narrower than the Atlantic Ocean, but so is the strait between Japan and South Korea, yet we never bundle those two countries together as part of the "Korean Peninsula", despite their cultural, social, political and even historical similarities.

Geographical regions are important for the obvious reasons, so that we may all know what part of the world we are talking about. People mixing them at will run the risk of being perceived as distracted or not totally aware of what they're talking about.

Good question, Feline74. A substantial number of pirates operate from Puntland's waters, and are resupplied from bases on its shores. While Puntland's government has recently made some encouraging noises about anti-piracy cooperation, the depth of this commitment is untested, and Puntland's own coastal waters are still far from friendly. Puntland's ports lack the infrastructure and logistics to support foreign warships, and the prevailing local security conditions would for now rule out basing foreign military forces on its territory.

Somaliland is more promising - the country has just opened a new prison to house pirates. The port of Berbera could be an alternative to Djibouti in the long run, but it too lacks the necessary infrastructure, docking berths, storage capacity, facility security, reliable supply of fuel, etc. A huge investment in the port of Berbera would be needed to make it fit for military purposes. While some redevelopment of the port is currently underway and more is planned, this work is geared towards commercial operations, and would still be insufficient for naval operations.

The main questions become:
a) How does the cost of upgrading those facilities compare with the cost- in fuel and in time off station- of basing anti-piracy forces in Djibouti and Kenya? and
b) Would local politics (in Puntland at least) allow the basing of foreign vessels and the needed fortifications to protect them?

Thank you for your time, sir.

The answer to your second question is no, absent a radical change in the state of Puntland.

The cost of upgrading would be tens of millions of dollars at the minimum, and would take years. It would be a risky investment, without the security of knowing whether those facilities would be available for long term future use. In short, neither option is a compelling alternative for military planners, and both bring a number of other, serious drawbacks.