Locating Africa within India’s Indian Ocean strategy
Locating Africa within India’s Indian Ocean strategy
WRITTEN BY ABHISHEK MISHRA
7 July 2020
The African continent increasingly occupies a central place in India’s strategic calculus. While India and Africa’s trade, investment, and capacity building initiatives are progressing well, it is the maritime-security partnership between India and African Indian Ocean littorals that has increased manifold and is poised to evolve into a strong, pragmatic, and meaningful partnership. Four developments have propelled this increased maritime engagement between India and the African littorals.
African countries realise the vast economic potential of the African Maritime Domain (AMD) for their development, prosperity, and the need for access to safe and secure maritime transit routes. Notably, 38 out of its 54 countries are either coastal or island nations and over ninety per cent of the continent’s trade is seaborne.
Africa sheds it’s inhibition — and looks out
Traditionally, African countries tended to look inwards and therefore failed to evolve a broad maritime culture and ocean governance policies. They have now started to shed their inhibitions and are paying more attention to the maritime domain. Suffering from a culture of ‘sea blindness’ is a phenomenon of the past. The maritime needs of African countries are much broader in scope and move beyond hard security. Issues of concern have included unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, armed robbery at sea, climate change, trafficking in small arms, narcotics, drugs and human concerns, ocean governance, oil spills, sand dredging, ocean economy, protection of oil and gas fields, and port infrastructure and development.
Second, India, as an established and ‘resident’ actor in the Indian Ocean Region is well placed, both geographically and operationally, to shape the emerging maritime security architecture in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Even though much of India’s remittances, energy interests (crude and petroleum oil), and the inner core of its security lies toward its western seaboard, its political attention, for the most part, has been directed towards its East, through its Look East and now Act East policy. India tended to focus on African waters only when its energy interests were threatened due to piracy in the Gulf of Aden and broader Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region. This narrow focus is now changing as India’s nautical ambitions and a desire to play a more integrated role in accordance with Africa’s maritime priorities and interests is driving India’s pursuit of more comprehensive western maritime security. The designation of South-West Indian Ocean and the East coast of Africa littoral regions as an area of primary maritime interest has served to reinforce the centrality of African littorals in India’s maritime security calculations.
The Indian Navy has therefore partnered with African countries both for information sharing and maritime surveillance. These partnerships enable India to keep a check on the unilateral tendencies of a non-resident and extra-regional power like China in the Indian Ocean.
Following this, India’s energy needs and a quest for resource security has drawn it closer to African waters. Africa boasts an abundance of natural resources, especially those in the marine and aquatic domain. The total natural assets of the WIO region have been estimated (conservatively) to be worth approximately $333.8 billion, of which fisheries is the largest asset. A large percentage of Indian trade ($60 billion exports and $50 billion imports) including oil and fertilizers passes through the Gulf of Aden. For India, the safe and unhindered passage of Indian ships through this route is critical for its economy. In addition, India has acquired a $6 billion oil and gas stake in the Rovuma gas field in Mozambique, a 15 per cent stake in an offshore hydrocarbon block in Namibia, and various stakes in South Africa’s coal mines. India procures almost 18 per cent of its crude oil from countries such as Nigeria, Angola, and South Sudan, along with 20 per cent of its coal demands from African countries, furthermore, almost 90 per cent of its phosphates come from Africa. India’s entire fertilizer industry is based on what it procures from Morocco, Tunisia, and Senegal.
The increasing presence of the Chinese Navy (PLAN) including its maritime militias, survey and hydrological research vessels, and submarines in the Indian Ocean has prompted India to increase its vigilance, monitoring and surveillance along critical maritime chokepoints in the IOR. At any given time, six to eight PLAN ships and submarines can be found present in the northern IOR. Notwithstanding allegations of debt-trap diplomacy, Beijing's opaque and aggressive investments reveal its revisionist tendencies. China's increasing presence in the Indian Ocean constitutes a threat to Indian national security given it could potentially constrain India’s freedom of navigation. The Indian Navy has therefore partnered with African countries both for information sharing and maritime surveillance. These partnerships enable India to keep a check on the unilateral tendencies of a non-resident and extra-regional power like China in the IOR.
Recent developments
India’s maritime security partnership with African Indian Ocean littoral countries primarily centres around securing sea lanes of communications (SLOCs), preventing transnational, maritime crimes such as IUU fishing, piracy, and armed robbery at sea, and improving maritime domain awareness (MDA) capabilities through sustained information sharing and maritime surveillance. Goodwill port visits from the Indian side have increased in recent years. Through its Mission Based Deployments, the Indian Navy has been able to maintain a strong, regular, and sustained presence in African waters and protect key strategic chokepoints at the points of entry to the WIO such as the Gulf of Aden, Strait of Hormuz and the Mozambique Channel. India recently deployed INS Sunayna in the Gulf of Aden for 80 days on anti-piracy operations without entering any ports. The ship was replenished at sea by Indian and United States Navy tankers. Sustaining such extended deployments is a remarkable achievement and a testimony to the Indian Navy’s operational outreach.
A well connected India
India also conducts hydrographic surveys for 5 African countries and has MoU on hydrographic cooperation with Mauritius, Tanzania, and Seychelles. It has also signed MoU’s on the sharing of White Shipping Information with Kenya, Mozambique and has shared a draft agreement with Tanzania. Additionally it has defence agreements with all 4 Vanilla Island Nations and in March 2020 joined the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) as an Observer State, after expanding MEA’s Indian Ocean Division to include all 5 African Indian Ocean island nations.
It also intends to post Navy Liaison Officers at the Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre (RMIFC) in Madagascar. This, in turn, will help to boost linkages between India’s Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) along with other information fusion centres to become a repository of maritime data in the Indian Ocean Region.
Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) operations remain one of the most visible elements in New Delhi's evolving Indian Ocean strategy, as highlighted by the vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region). Its reputation as a ‘first responder’ in times of crisis, was enhanced during Cyclone Idai and Kenneth (Mozambique, March 2019), and Cyclone Diane (Madagascar, January 2020). Moreover, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a further example of India’s vision for the Indian Ocean saw it launch ‘Mission SAGAR’ to provide medical assistance to its maritime neighbours namely Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar, Comoros, and the Maldives. As part of this effort, INS Kesari achieved a remarkable feat by traversing over 7,500 nautical miles for over 55 days delivering consignments of COVID-19 related essential medical supplies.
Efforts such as these only serve to highlight the special place that African Indian Ocean littoral countries hold in India’s maritime security calculations. The challenge going forward is twofold – find unique ways to sustain the current momentum and trajectory, and identify convergences and align priorities as enshrined under Indian Maritime Security Strategy 2015 and Africa’s Integrated Maritime Strategy 2050. Tackling non-traditional security threats in IOR, collaboration on blue and ocean economy, mapping of the continental shelf, and protecting SLOCs, are issues of mutual interest for India and Africa and serve as a good starting point for future development.
DISCLAIMER: All views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of the 9DASHLINE.com platform.
Author biography
Abhishek Mishra is Junior Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi and is a doctoral candidate at Department of African Studies, University of Delhi. Image credit: Thomas Pesquet/ESA/NASA/Flickr.