The current conflict in Ukraine could have severe impacts on Europe’s interest in the Middle East and Northern Africa. It could disrupt energy supply lines, create food shortages, and cause states in the region to build up leverage over Europe and the USA. Since Russia has invaded Ukraine, the effects of the war will not just affect Europe, but also very heavily North Africa. Russia is Europe’s main energy provider, and with the war in Ukraine, Europe turns to the Middle East and North Africa, but those two regions are unable to provide the energy for Europe. The rising tensions between the West and Russia will also cause damage to regional stabilization efforts in places like Syria. The conflict in Ukraine will also bring a heavy rise in price to wheat and natural gas. The one positive is that Europe could now look to Algeria and Morocco for a possible energy pipeline.
This current conflict is potentially very harming to Northern Africa because of potential wheat shortages and food insecurities to North African countries with large populations. This conflict also has a lasting impact on Europe and their ability to get natural gas and energy. Europe relies on Russia to supply energy to the states in Europe. Since the war in Ukraine began, Russia has been cut off. This could lead to permanent stoppage of the Nord Stream pipeline, meaning Europe would need to find energy elsewhere, so a pipeline from somewhere like Algeria or Morocco seems possible, especially since Joe Biden shut down production of oil in Alaska, which was another solution to provide Europe with natural gas while crippling Russia’s economy, making this invasion of Ukraine not possible and stopping Russia from building the Nord Stream pipeline.
This article deals with the topic of NATO and the EU and their foreign policy decisions. They have the option to allow natural gas from Russia to flow into Europe, or cut them off, essentially crippling their economy. The other option is to potentially build a pipeline from Northern Africa that flows to Europe. As for North Africa, the potential food insecurities are a rising concern as wheat prices have increased, so North Africa needs to depend on food elsewhere or find alternative solutions and seek help from the UN or NATO.