For about 20 years, the Horn of Africa had continually been under the quagmire of war, terror, clashes, hunger and drought. The support from the West usually came through food aid targeting refugees running away from bullets or those ravaged by the hunger in camps.

Of all the nine countries in the region, Somalia seemed to have been the worst hit. With a two-decade civil war, latest figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) say there are over 600,000 Somali refugees scattered in countries neighboring Somalia.

And then there was last year's drought, which saw 4 million people near starvation. A third of this came from Somalia, a country, which in normal circumstances, does not even produce enough to eat because its people are always on the run.

At the time, the Chinese Government announced to assist the area with relief food worth $800,000 (Ksh 7 billion) immediately after this area was hit by severe drought and famine. In total, Chinese relief donation to the Horn has reached $60 million in the past five years. This has been in terms of food and agricultural technological support.

Despite all the rhetoric about democracy from the West, little change had been realized in terms of peace and security in this region.

Call to China

In April, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki called on China to support the African Union Mission of Somalia (AMISOM) peace initiative mandated to restore Somalia's stability. During March and April Kibaki met with both Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress Hua Jianmin in Nairobi and Secretary of Communist Party of China's Beijing Municipal Committee, Liu Qi.

The call for China's support in terms of regional security is based on the growing relations between China and Africa over the last decade, benefiting the continent as a whole.

China's trade value with Africa, according to the World Bank, grew from under $6 billion to $107 billion. And nearly all major roads constructed in the past five years have been done with the help of the Chinese. Last year, the Chinese funded the construction of the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa to the tune of $200 million.

African leaders see these developments as a way to fuel economic growth, to put them into a better negotiating position without manipulation, on the world map.

Security challenges

But these ties continue to be challenged by the ongoing insecurity and conflict on the continent. Between 1990 and 2005 Africa accounted for half of the number of deaths caused by conflict, terrorism or violence, according to a recent paper by the University of Nairobi's Institute of Diplomacy and International studies. This cost Africa $300 billion in terms of resources destroyed and people killed.

The Horn region contributed two thirds of the deaths and nearly half of the financial loss. The challenge took a new trend when Somali militants, Al-Shabaab, took control of parts of Somalia, and started getting sympathizers from neighboring countries. The militants then began hijacking cargo ships from the gulf and the Indian Ocean. Importing goods became expensive for the region as importers took to recover the costs of insuring their goods and investors have been scared off.

Being aware of the security challenges in the Horn, China has been active in helping out, having donated $300,000 to the AU's Somali peacekeeping mission in 2008, and $400,000 in August 2009 and a further $4.76 million to AMISOM in December last year.

China has also sent its naval fleets to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters to protect cargo ships.

"China has complied with its international duties and contributed to stability in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters, effectively protecting the security of domestic and foreign vessels and sailors," China Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng told Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

The International Maritime Organization has recently reported a significant 35 percent drop in piracy attacks on ships in the Somali waters.

Experts in international diplomacy see a trend in the region showing Africa's trust in China growing. "The Shabaabs are not state agencies and so they can be a hazard to the Sino-Africa relations because they can be a threat to investments. Africa sees China as the best ally to combat the militants," said Professor Zhao Suisheng, Editor of the Journal of Contemporary China.

"Whereas the Chinese foreign policy is not to interfere with internal politics of other countries, security arrangements are important," he told ChinAfrica.

John Shikwati, an economic analyst with the Nairobi based Inter-Region Economic Network, agreed, saying, "Taming the Somali insecurity would be a double benefit for the Horn because it will mean the region will enjoy Chinese help in economic investments."

(Reporting from Kenya)