The Brief: Red Sea crisis fuels Africa’s inflation risk

The Event

On January 11th 2024, the US and UK hit Houthi targets across Yemen in response to several drone attacks against international shipping vessels. This has escalated a conflict which has been brewing since November 2023, which is itself an expansion of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. 

The Houthis, a well-armed rebel group in Yemen supported by Iran, control the western part of Yemen after a brutal civil war which began in 2014. Between November 19th 2023, and January 9th 2024, there were 26 Houthi attacks in international shipping lanes, mostly using drones. The Houthis, which the US has relisted as a terrorist organisation, attacked ships going through the Bab Al-Mandab strait in the Red Sea. The strait is a trade route between Africa and the Middle East, which connects the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal—a man-made waterway. The Suez Canal is a shortcut