ABSTRACT
In recent years much has been written on the role of emergent powers — China, India, Brazil — on the African continent. In a way this literature has transplanted previous emphases on the impact of colonial powers — notably, Britain and France — and great powers — notably, the United States — on the African continent. Comparatively far less however, has focused on the impact of Arab countries on the African continent. This is a particularly glaring oversight considering the fact that the two regions' interactions go back some fourteen hundred years when Arabs and Islam entered Egypt in AD 640 (Kokole 1984: 687). Over this period, the Arab world has cast a long and overwhelmingly malevolent shadow over Africa, particularly in the security sphere.
