Just as disruption to international maritime routes in the Red Sea has sent merchant ships round the coast of Africa, the continent is building a new bloc of nations running along its west coast.
Led by Morocco, this new Atlantic Africa group will be an arena for cooperation between 23 nations united by geography over development, the economy and security.
Their combined coastline runs for thousands of kilometres, covering a quarter of the distance from the Cape of Good Hope to the Strait of Gibraltar.
It may make securing these routes, which are currently being used as an alternative to the Suez Canal, easier.
This is due to the kind of piracy that has struck the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait in the Gulf of Aden in recent weeks, as Houthis in Yemen express support for Palestinians by attacking shipping heading for Suez.
New year, new bloc
The new group covers a proportion of the South Atlantic International Trade Route now being used by hundreds more ships heading from the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope in Africa’s far south, then on to the Mediterranean via the Strait of Gibraltar.
It takes around a week longer than using the canal but is free of Houthi attacks. Such diversions to world shipping serve as a timely reminder of the geopolitical importance of maritime trade routes but plans for Atlantic Africa are a coincidence of timing.
They are also a reminder of alternatives through what Arabs used to call The Sea of Darkness – but the state of flux in international relations will likely create more tensions on the high seas before a new world order is established.