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Horn of Africa Unstable By Any Int'l Standard

The Daily Monitor (Addis Ababa)
NEWS
November 13, 2002
Posted to the web November 14, 2002

By Dagnachew Teklu
Addis Ababa
The Horn of Africa is said to be very volatile and unstable by any
international standard as home for different conflicts. This was stated
yesterday at a three-day conference opened at the Sheraton Addis under the
theme "Conflict and Cooperation in the Horn of Africa".
The regional conference, organized by the Ethiopian International Institute for
Peace and Development (EIIPD) together with Freidrich Ebert Foundation is aimed
at taking stock of the recent and current status of conflicts in the sub-
region.
Dr. Kinfe Abraham, President of EIIPD told The Daily Monitor that the
Conference is also aims to explore conflicts resolution mechanism that have
been put in place to address similar conflicts in other regions and other
related issues.
According to him, only recently conflicts in the Somali Civil War, South Sudan,
Uganda-Sudan Conflict, Eritrea-Sudanese conflict, Eritrea-Djibouti conflict,
Eritrea-Yemen conflict and Ethio-Eritrea conflict have plagued the region.
"These string of conflicts make the Sub-region very volatile and unstable by
any international standard.
Regrettably, four of the seven conflicts listed above are also between Eritrea
and other states," Dr. Kinfe said.
He indicated that the number of countries in conflict with Eritrea reached
three out of a total of six countries, excluding itself.
"The only other conflict between states in the sub-region in which Eritrea is
not involved is the Uganda-Sudan problem.
This presents a negative and pessimistic picture of the Horn which calls for
concerted international endeavour in defusing the mounting tension which has
acquired an explosive proportion," he added.
Dr. Kinfe further stressed the need to emphasis not only the conflict but also
cooperation among the Horn of Africa states.
Ethiopia is reported to have signed 12 cooperation agreements with Sudan while
its relation with neighbouring countries has been improving.

   

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