The Mysterious Gulf of Aden Airfield is Making Slow Progress

 

For some time, work has been underway on the construction of an airfield on the island of Abd al Kuri, which overlooks both the Gulf of Aden and the Somali autonomous region of Puntland. 

 For the maritime community, Abd al Kuri is of some interest, as it overlooks the major shipping channel between the Bab el Mandeb and points east, where merchant vessels have been attacked by Houthi drones and missiles. 120 kilometers to the west of Abd al Kuri is the Cape Guardafui headland, the northeastern tip of an area of Somalia, which appears to be the source of a surge in piracy in the area recently.

Abd al Kuri belongs to Yemen, but it is unclear who is building the airfield and for what purpose. The island has a small population dependent on fishing, which retreats to Socotra 100 kilometers to the East during the annual monsoon season, but is arid and lacking in vegetation. 

Reports which suggested that the airfield was being constructed by the United Arab Emirates, without permissison from the Yemeni authorities, appear to have been confirmed when signage spelling ‘I ? UAE’ was laid out alongside the new runway. Social media reports also claim that the Abd al Kuri itinerant population appears to have been removed by Emirati forces.

Rumors circulating on Yemeni social media that the new airfield was to be used by the Emiratis or the Israelis appear wide of the mark. Although there has been a contractor’s camp associated with the new airfield for more than a year, progress on building the main runway has been painfully slow, but has accelerated recently. 1850 meters of the 2400-meter main runway had surfaced as of 14 October, and no work has yet started on the 1325-meter subsidiary runway. Moreover, the runway seems to have been built without hardcore foundations, suggesting that the surface will not be capable of carrying large aircraft.

A military base on Abd al Kuri could have considerable utility for a force wishing to mount maritime security patrols and to suppress Houthi missile attacks and piracy in the Bab el Mandeb and Gulf of Aden areas.  But whoever is behind the building of the airfield appears to be in no rush to complete it. Moreover, if the UAE wanted to use Abd al Kuri for this purpose, it already controls the nearby airfield at Hadibo on Socotra, which has well-established facilities that are under-utilized.

The UAE also appears to have given up on establishing an airfield on Perim Island, which sits astride the narrowest point of the Strait of Bab el Mandeb.