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2018
Post-colonial Africa has been riddled by numerous secessionist conflicts. Since the dawn of independence in the 1960s a number of African countries have experienced insurgencies involving ethno-linguistic groups or ethnically homogeneous regions seeking to withdraw from their “parent” states in order to establish new independent countries. The list of African countries that have experienced secessionist conflicts includes: Angola (Cabinda), Comoros (Anjouan and Mohedi), The Democratic Republic of Congo (Katanga, South Kassai) Ethiopia (Eritrea, Ogaden, and Oromia, Afar), Mali (Tuaregs), Niger (Tuaregs), Nigeria (Biafra, Niger Delta), Senegal (Casamance), Somalia (Somaliland) and Sudan (South Sudan). However, despite the prevalence of secessionist conflicts in the continent only two cases have succeeded, resulting in the establishment of new states: Eritrea in 1993 and South Sudan in 2011. In this regard, this research seeks to explain the determinants of successful secessions in post- colonial Africa. This objective is achieved by analyzing the dynamics of secession in Eritrea and South Sudan. The study does not intend to establish causal generalizations; rather it examines specific conditions that have evolved out of the particular experiences of Eritrea and South Sudan to contend that both domestic and international politics play a decisive role in determining the outcome of secessionist conflicts in the continent. The research favors the qualitative methodological approach, makes use of descriptive data gathered from secondary sources and is informed by the theoretical assumptions of Wood’s comparative analytical framework on secession and Coggins’ international-level model of state birth. Key words: Secession, Self-determination, Post-colonial Africa, Eritrea, South Sudan,
2021
The Horn of conflict? The Horn of Africa comprises Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, and Somalia, and by extension, Kenya and Uganda. The region is diverse in terms of geography, culture, religion, population, and politics. The region is known as a hotbed of conflicts due to its resource to cross-border to communal conflicts. The realist theoretical approach hold that states operate in a state of anarchy. They are after their self-interest and survival in the international system. This survival leads to a security dilemma. States will do what they can to secure their own security, which induces fear in others who, in turn, increase theirs. Ethiopia, the second-most populous country in Africa, is entrapped into different conflicts: interstate and cross-border conflict with Eritrea, conflict with Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and Nile water conflict with Egypt. Why is Ethiopia entrapped into these conflicts? What is the role of the leaders/political parties in these...
Political Commentary , 2019
Today, Ethiopia’s story is not about a struggle for democracy. Neither is it a quest for a social and political order based on the rule of law, political inclusiveness, economic opportunity, addressing income inequality and social justice. Nor for the state’s modernization. It is nationalist contestations between forces of integration and fragmentation, while a disoriented group with the appetite for civic nationalism is too insignificant in its size to make any dent. The two variants of nationalisms in Ethiopia are in fact two sides of the same coin. They are essentially collectivist-ethnic nationalisms in their core formation, fighting for power and resources. Though one of them believes it is above tribal allegiances, both are neither individualistic as the case is in the Anglo-Saxon states nor civic as the French nationalism would be. The contestations of these forces is currently waged at a time when the Ethiopian state is passing through its acid test. Nationalist contestation is always a struggle for political power. It is about capturing the state, to use it as a lethal weapon against adversaries. Political leaders in the ruling coalition are now under intense pressure from collectivist ethnic nationalists in their respective regions to prove their credential. In their desperation to outbid their own lots, they find themselves increasingly at odds with each other, causing the erosion of leadership cohesion in the EPRDF. They are now locked up in a populist-authoritarian race, appealing to the far-right nationalist demands in their respective regions. And each are as good as republics, minus central banks. Some have acquired social organization, resources and instruments of coercion to challenge any force, whether it comes from the state or their neighboring regions.
Opinion CIDOB, 2021
The Ethiopian government ended its military intervention in the Tigray region last December after five weeks of open conflict against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Far from the crisis being over, there is a serious risk that it will become entrenched and turn into a guerrilla war. Domestic instability and growing diplomatic tension with Sudan and Egypt make Abiy Ahmed’s Ethiopia a potential destabiliser of the Horn of Africa and the continent as a whole.
2022
Interview by film director Nicoletta Fagiolo with Elias Amare, Researcher, journalist and Editor of Horn of Africa TV For BYOBLU, 11 January 2022
The Horn of Africa where Sudan is a constituent part is considered a hotbed of crises that have local and global dimensions marked by rebel activities, military coups, ethnic and racial insurgencies, human rights violations, state collapse, and terrorism. Countries in the region are buffeted by group identity espousing goals associated with the aim of either self-determination within an existing nation-state or at times aspiring for secession, which is a political problem hindering the process of forging a sense of national identity in post-colonial Africa. The quest for self-determination did not end up with the secession of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993 dubbed a ‘last colony’ in Africa. This is in view of the fact that other movements with a potential of fracturing territorial integrity of the states are emerging in the region as exemplified by the outcomes of the January 2011 self-determination referendum of Southern Sudan. Although the Comprehensive Peace Agreement provides for the total transformation of Sudan and thus making ‘unity attractive’, this came to be elusive in view of the final outcome of the referendum attesting the overwhelming tendency of Southern Sudan to the ‘new Southern Sudan’ vision aimed at effecting separation. However, the secession of Southern Sudan brings forth several issues that affect not only the various parties in the Sudan but also neighboring countries in the sub-region. Among the issues that intertwine the countries in the region, the issue of the Nile, resurgence of political Islam and secessionism stand out as having profound resonance in the context of Southern Sudan’s accession to independent statehood. These issues are probed thoroughly in the thesis through analysis of secondary sources and information obtained from pertinent primary sources.
Democracy and Peace in the Horn of Africa, 2009
International Relations and Diplomacy, Vol. 09, No.09, 2021
Being the major geostrategic regions in the world, the Horn of Africa has become a centre of intense geopolitical competition by international and regional powers. This paper attempts to analyze the contemporary geopolitical dynamics in the Horn of Africa and its repercussions for states with particular emphasis on Ethiopia. It argues that there are four defining features of contemporary geopolitical dynamics in the Horn region: scramble for military base as a result of power projection by extra-regional states, competition for commercial ports, the Nile rivalry, and regional configuration of states amid political transitions. This geopolitical dynamics has brought opportunities for Ethiopia with regard to port access, building up naval power, infrastructure, hard currency, and regional integration. On the other hand, it has also presented challenges to Ethiopia in terms of alienating neighbors, threatening sovereignty, escalating tensions, jeopardizing religious coexistence, and maintenance of security and sustainability. Therefore, sustaining the gains and addressing the challenges of geopolitical dynamics in the Horn of Africa is vital for ensuring strategic interests of Ethiopia both domestically and in the region.
Journal of Disability Management and Special Education, 2018
REVISTA DE HISTÓRIA DA SOCIEDADE E DA CULTURA, 2023
DAYTONSKI MIROVNI SPORAZUM I BUDUĆNOST BOSNE I HERCEGOVINE, 2016
Wasilatuna, 2018
Journal of Nusantara Studies, 2017
Chemical Data Collections, 2020
Jakcloth Akhir Tahun 2025, 2024
Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2021
Contextus – Revista Contemporânea de Economia e Gestão, 2018
Advances in Mathematics, 2008