Africa’s Inexplicable Horn
Ethiopia’s former communist leader, Mengistu Haile Mariam, prolonged a famine in northern Ethiopia in the mid-1980s to dry out two Marxist insurgencies that were each deeply rooted there.
Posts
Growing Pains in the Horn of Africa?
/in IntellectualCapital.com/by Frank SmythMany developing nations have borders that were first established by colonial powers. But few embrace their colonial heritage as closely as does Eritrea, a tiny nation of 3.6 million people that amicably seceded from larger Ethiopia in 1993.
Africa’s Horn War
/in IntellectualCapital.com/by Frank SmythSecessionist struggles stoke nationalist passions, but they do not necessarily correspond to ethnic groups. While ethnicity burns the fire in the Balkans, ethnic Tigrinyans lead both Ethiopia and Eritrea into battle in the war on the African Horn.
Battle Horn: So Much for Africa’s “New Leaders.”
/in The New Republic/by Frank SmythThe war on Africa’s Horn may be the most dramatic and bloodiest chapter in the rapid disintegration of an alliance among a group of African leaders–commonly referred to as the “new leaders”–that once held much promise. In 1996, Isaias and Meles, along with Uganda’s…
Africa’s New Block
/in Foreign Affairs/by Dan Connell & Frank SmythSUB-SAHARAN Africa is undergoing its most profound changes since the early years of independence. Forces that have long held sway over the region are now either waning or gone. For decades the United States, the Soviet Union, and France propped up dictators who served their interests — men like Ethiopia’s…