Conflict and Intervention in the Horn of Africa
Bereket H. Selassie
Monthly Review Press
The Horn of Africa, a strategically important area embracing Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Djibouti, has been an arena of uninterrupted armed conflict for nearly two decades. In the first part of this book, Bereket Selassie shows how this conflict, which has cost thousands of lives and sent tens of thousands of refugees wandering into the desert, is rooted in the region's history and geography. Its principal source lies in the nature of the Ethiopian empire-state, whose imperialist character did not change—despite pronouncements to the contrary—with the overthrow of the semifeudal rule of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. The first chapters outline the origins of the Ethiopian state, the growth of the opposition to Haile Selassie and to the regime that replaced him, and show how this in turn led to the ruthless suppression of national and democratic movements and fueled militant liberation fronts among suppressed nationalities. Selassie then turns to an analysis of the history and development of these liberation movements, including their struggles, programs, and effectiveness. He places this discussion within the context of the conflict between the “territorial integrity” of an inherited empire and the right to self-determination of a suppressed nation. In separate chapters, he discusses the Eritrean anti-colonial struggle, the Tigrean and Oromo national liberation struggles, and Somalia’s struggle to regain its “lost territories.” In the final section, Selassie then argues that in order to understand these events, it is also necessary to understand the crucial role played by outside intervention in the Horn. He analyzes the activities and shifting alliances of the big powers (the Soviet Union and the United States) and of the neighboring Arab countries.