The conclusion shows how persistent colonial chaos has been in the southern Red Sea. Local diplomacy retains a distinctly competitive and militaristic flavour to this day. International competition and realpolitik in the southern Red Sea has, if anything, intensified in the post-Cold War era. Looking at Puntland, south-west Yemen and Djibouti today, we see the Djiboutian government depends on money and recognition from renting space to foreign navies, while in Somalia and Yemen, rival power brokers seek to translate acts of maritime aggression into international negotiations for military and civil assistance. Opportunities to rekindle a regional culture of international cooperation exist, but are deeply submerged beneath the depths of colonial history.