A recent international report reveals the Houthi militia's attempts to expand its influence beyond Yemen into the Horn of Africa by recruiting members of the Afar ethnic group, leveraging local ties for military training and mobilization.
The report, titled "From Starting Point to Center: The Houthis in Africa" and published by the CENTURY International's "Beyond the Axis" project, details early efforts by the group to attract and recruit Afar individuals residing in Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. These recruits were reportedly taken to Yemen for military and ideological training, with promises of financial, political, and military support.
The initiative was allegedly linked to an Afar figure named Mohammed Al-Ousan, who had ties to the Afar Red Sea Democratic Organization before moving to Yemen and establishing connections with the Houthis. According to the report, the group provided Al-Ousan with a dedicated training base in 2016 and tasked him with overseeing a growing Afar community. Al-Ousan and a group of Afar individuals were then transported to Yemen via boats from northern Djibouti.
However, the project encountered significant challenges as recruits found themselves deployed to the Yemeni frontlines instead of participating in a political project or rebellion within the Afar regions of the Horn of Africa. This led to internal conflict, with Al-Ousan protesting the militia's treatment of the recruits. The report states that the Houthis arrested Al-Ousan and several followers in 2024, subjecting them to torture before executing Al-Ousan later that year. Afar tribal leaders subsequently engaged in negotiations with the Houthis to retrieve his body and secure the return of remaining recruits.
Despite the apparent failure of this initial endeavor, the report suggests that Houthi efforts in the region have not ceased. Afar community leaders have reportedly received new offers of training and weaponry, with the most recent occurring in 2026. This indicates that the group views the first attempt as a potentially replicable strategy rather than a abandoned project.
The strategic significance of these movements lies in the targeted region. The Afar people are spread across a geographical area connecting Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, situated near a vital global maritime route. Establishing connections with local groups and developing recruitment and training networks within these communities could provide the Houthis with leverage extending beyond Yemen, impacting the security of the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa.
These findings align with previous disclosures by the National Resistance regarding Houthi activities in recruiting Afar individuals in the Horn of Africa. An Eritrean national from the Afar tribe, Ali Ahmed Yadeedi, confessed to being part of Houthi cells aimed at recruiting tribesmen and sending them to Houthi-controlled areas on Yemen's west coast. His confessions detailed combat training in Yemen and promises of financial and military support for a project targeting Afar regions in Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, mirroring the international report's account of early Houthi attempts to build human and military extensions outside Yemen.
These revelations, if substantiated, suggest a shift in the Houthi group's strategy. Instead of focusing solely on consolidating power within Yemen, they appear to be engaged in building local networks in vulnerable Red Sea environments, exploiting social marginalization, poverty, and local divisions to present themselves as providers of funds, weapons, and political support. The Al-Ousan experience further highlights the darker aspect of this project, where recruitment under political pretenses leads to deployment in the Yemeni war, transforming promises of change into a mechanism for serving a cross-border military agenda. This raises concerns about the potential exploitation of local communities in the Horn of Africa as human resources for Houthi regional ambitions.
The danger of this path extends beyond recruitment. The successful establishment of Houthi-linked cells within Afar territories could provide future channels for movement, smuggling, intelligence gathering, and facilitating the transfer of personnel and military components, particularly in a region where regional and international security interests converge. The Houthis' attempts in the Horn of Africa indicate that their agenda is no longer confined to controlling Yemeni territory but aims to leverage Yemen's geographical position and Red Sea networks to build external influence. While the initial experience with the Afar community may have failed, the continuation of recruitment and training offers until 2026 suggests the group is still seeking new footholds, potentially through small-scale local projects that could evolve into broader instruments of influence.
