The Houthis Have Taken An Island At Africa’s Red Sea Gateway. The Shipping Risk Just Got Bigger

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement has captured Mayun, also known as Perim Island, inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. The island sits opposite Djibouti and Eritrea and divides one of the world’s most important shipping chokepoints into two lanes.

WHY MAYUN MATTERS

Mayun is a small, barren volcanic island, but its location is strategically enormous. Bab el-Mandeb connects the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and Suez Canal, making it a critical route for trade between Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean.

Associated Press reported that the capture was confirmed by a senior military official with Yemen’s internationally recognised government and by a Houthi official. Reuters reported that the Houthi advance along Yemen’s coast had sharply increased the threat to shipping through the strait.

AFRICA IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WATER

Djibouti and Eritrea sit directly across the strait from Yemen. Any sustained disruption to Bab el-Mandeb would therefore be both a Middle Eastern security crisis and an African economic issue.

Ships avoiding the Red Sea can be forced onto the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope. That can raise freight costs, insurance premiums, fuel use and delivery times, with knock-on effects for African ports and consumers.

THE ENERGY RISK

Reuters estimates that roughly 12% of global trade and about 7% of petroleum supplies normally pass through Bab el-Mandeb. The Houthi territorial advance comes as wider Middle East conflict has already pushed oil prices higher and strained other energy routes.

WHAT HAS NOT HAPPENED

The capture of Mayun does not by itself mean Bab el-Mandeb is physically closed to commercial shipping. ARN should distinguish territorial control and increased military leverage from a confirmed total closure of the strait.

WHY AFRICA SHOULD WATCH

The geography means the Horn of Africa is not watching this crisis from a distance. Djibouti, Eritrea and the wider East African coast sit beside a route whose security affects fuel prices, shipping schedules and international trade.