GIGA Publications - Afrika Spectrum 2/2007

Afrika Spectrum

Vol. 43 (2008) 1

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Table of Contents (pages) / Inhalt (Seiten)

Special Issue: Horn of Africa

Guest-Editor: Thomas Zitelmann
Special issue on the 'Horn of Africa': introduction (5-18)

Articles

Tobias Hagmann / Alemmaya Mulugeta
Pastoral conflicts and state-building in the Ethiopian lowlands (Abstract) (19-38)

Yasin Mohammed Yasin
Political history of the Afar in Ethiopia and Eritrea (Abstract) (39-66)

Luca Ciabarri
Productivity of refugee camps: social and political dy-namics from Somaliland-Ethiopia border (1988-2001) (Abstract) (67-90)

Markus Höhne
Newspapers in Hargeysa: freedom of speech in post-conflict Somaliland (Abstract) (91-114)

Reports

Hatem Elliesie
Dezentralisierung des Hochschulwesens in Eritrea [Decentralisation of higher education in Eritrea] (115-120)

Cindy Horst
A monopoly on assistance: international aid to refugee camps and the neglected role of the Somali Diaspora (121-132)

Axel Harneit-Sievers / Ralph-Michael Peters
Kenya’s 2007 general election and its aftershocks (133-144)

Review article

Heribert Adam
Reflections on anti-apartheid journalism: Gerald Shaw's autobiography (159-161)

Articles

Tobias Hagmann / Alemmaya Mulugeta
Pastoral conflicts and state-building in the Ethiopian lowlands

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Abstract: This paper draws attention to the central role played by the Ethiopian state in reconfiguring contemporary (agro- pastoral conflicts in its semi-arid lowlands. Contrary to primordialist and environmental conflict theories of pastoralist violence, we shed light on the changing political rationality of inter-group conflicts by retracing the multiple impacts of state-building on pastoral land tenure and resource governance, peacemaking and custom-mary authorities, and competition over state resources. Based on an exten-sive comparative review of recent case studies, post-1991 administrative decentralisation is identified as a major driving force in struggles for re-sources between transhumant herders in Ethiopia’s peripheral regions. Our analysis emphasises the politicisation of kinship relations and group identities and the transformation of conflict motives under the influence of the gradual incorporation of (agro- pastoral groups into the Ethiopian nation-state. Ethnic federalism incites pastoralists to engage in parochial types of claim-making, to occupy territory on a more permanent basis and to become involved in ‘politics of difference’ with neighbouring groups.

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Abstract: Like in many parts of Africa, the colonial map-making has left its deep-seated mark on the political features of present-day states in the Horn of Africa. As the making of the boundaries was entirely based on the vested interest of European expansionists that absolutely ignored the ethnic make-up of societies, similar ethno-linguistic groups were cut up to two or more adjacent states. These divisions, that gravely challenged the tradi-tional administrative as well as socio-economic systems further fuelled conflicts in the Horn region.

Among many cases of such tragic partitions, the land of the homoge-nous nomadic nation of Afar was divided among three states in the Afri-can Horn, namely Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. Subsequent to their anti-colonial resistance, the Afar have faced further intrastate divisions and marginalization enforced by the central powers in the respective states. Their half-a-century old quest of and struggle for self-determination was regarded as paving the way to an independent state. Is creating a nation called Afarria or else the Afar Triangle the ultimate goal of the Afar politi-cal movements? What does unity and self-determination mean for the Afar? This paper will discuss the inception of the modern political orienta-tion of the Afar and their struggle from the era of European colonialism to the time of domestic domination.

Keywords: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Afar, self-determination

Luca Ciabarri
Productivity of refugee camps: social and political dy-namics from Somaliland-Ethiopia border (1988-2001)

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Abstract: Refugee camps are not simply places where temporary protection and primary assistance is provided, but also places in which political and social production occurs. In areas such as Horn of Africa, with a long tradition of international interventions in the form of humanitarian aid, refugee camps have been intrinsically embedded within local social and political power structures and dynamics, which have deeply transformed both their aims and actions. The purpose of this article is to analyze such transformations as part of a local social history, particularly under the peculiar condition of State collapse which has characterized Somaliland in the early 1990s. Furthermore, I will try to show how, in the interlacing of institutional collapse, war and international interventions, new equilibriums and forms of government have emerged, thus contributing to depict a kind of genealogy of the new public realm in Somaliland, composed of various actors standing beside the state.

Keywords: Refugee camps, humanitarian aid, appropriation, social history, borders, state-building, post-conflict, Somaliland

Markus Höhne
Newspapers in Hargeysa: freedom of speech in post-conflict Somaliland

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Abstract: This article discusses the role of newspapers in the ongoing democratisation process in Somaliland. It shows that, embedded in Somali culture and the recent history of the region, freedom of speech in Hargeysa, the capital of Somaliland, is cultivated by and in print media, established after the civil war. Several debates in the newspapers, which have centred on sensitive political issues, are used to exemplify this point. In some regards, the newspapers continue the legacy of the civil war. Most newspaper owners and journalists participated actively in the guerrilla struggle against the dictatorial regime of Mahamed Siyad Barre. The result of the struggle was secession from Somalia and the independence of Somaliland as a de facto state. The country, however, does not enjoy inter-national recognition, and not all inhabitants support its independence. Against this background the newspapers are actively involved in a ‘nation-building’ struggle that marginalises a significant part of the population and harbours the potential for renewed civil war in the region.

Keywords: Somaliland, Somalia, print media, democratisation, conflict