CMI seminar on Mediating Peace in the Greater Horn of Africa (4.6.2010)

The Horn of Africa is host to a number of conflicts, and media reports on piracy along the coast of Somalia have increased international attention to the sub-region. The Somali conflict is the Horns’ most enduring one, but it is by far not the only hotspot in the region.

Inter- and intrastate conflicts include the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea, fighting in the Ogaden region and Eritrea’s recent entanglements with Djibouti. When having a look at the greater region Sudan (Darfur, Southern Sudan and Eastern Sudan) and Yemen come into focus.

CMI held a seminar on the subject in Helsinki on 3 June 2010. CMI's Executive Director Tuija Talvitie emphasised the inter-linkages between all conflicts in the immediate region. CMI's Chairman, President Martti Ahtisaari said that the African Union has been instrumental in establishing a security management system that includes the Peace and Security Council with its supporting mechanisms. Former EU Special Envoy to Sudan Pekka Haavisto gave an intresting and rare presentation on the role of special envoys. They can have a crucial role acting as mediators between different parties and especially negotiating between different layers of decision making.

CMI's Project Manager in Addis Ababa Alemayehu Behabtu gave a presentation on the conflicts in the Horn in general. He explained in detail the three major sources of instability; Eritrea-Ethiopia, Eritrea-Djibouti and Somalia. This triangular conflict cycle affects the whole region as one conflict cannot be solved or mediated unless all three cases are tackled at once. This makes mediating the conflicts in the Horn one of the most difficult in the world.

Abdulmajid Al-Fahed, the Voluntarily Executive Director of Civic Democratic Initiative Support Foundation (Yemen), gave a well placed presentation on the different kinds of conflicts in Yemen. Simultaneously the state and tribes are clashing,  tribes are fighting each other and the state is combatting extreme religious groups. The neighboring states, Saudi Arabia and Somalia on the other side of the Gulf of Aden are playing roles in the different conflicts in Yemen. Yemeni civic society actors can have a healing role but they need assitance in connecting conflict resolution to development.

The seminar received support from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Seminar agenda click here.