scholarly journals Cooperation and Conflict at the Horn of Africa: A New Regional Bloc Between Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia and Its Consequences for Eastern Africa

2020 ◽  
pp. 000203972093668
Author(s):  
Ingo Henneberg ◽  
Sören Stapel
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
African Union ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Regional Organisations ◽  
Regional Architecture ◽  
Comparative Regionalism

In January 2020, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia proposed to form a new regional bloc, occasionally referred to as the Horn of Africa Cooperation (HoAC). This article assesses which factors have contributed to making this proposal and contemplates potential effects for the complex security challenges, political tensions among the neighbours, and existing institutional environment in the region. Drawing on the scholarship on comparative regionalism and overlapping regionalism, we show that a genuine interest to independently address security challenges in the Horn of Africa, as well as domestic concerns, are core motivations for the leaders in all three states. However, the HoAC proposal bears the risk of further alienating partners in the region and undermning security efforts of other regional organisations, most importantly the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the African Union, and the Eastern Africa Standby Force. Thus, the promises and pitfalls of this new bloc could shape the regional architecture and cause new political challenges in the region.

Towards a More Integrated Approach? Cooperation Among the UN, AU and IGAD in Mediation Support

2021 ◽  
pp. 261-284
Author(s):  
Jamie Pring
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
African Union ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
Organizational Norms ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Normative Factors ◽  
Mediation Processes

This chapter argues that the interaction of organizational norms and interests influences an organizations’ willingness to lead, collaborate, or compete in mediation processes. Examining the interactions of the United Nations, African Union, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in the Horn of Africa, the chapter finds that while functionalist explanations for cooperation among mediation actors are dominant in the field, they don’t adequately account for cooperation in all types of mediation support. Crucially, functionalist approaches overlook geopolitical and normative factors crucial in forging cooperation in operational support to on-going mediation processes. Therefore, in addition to functional concerns, norms and interests also need to be considered in working towards deeper integration.

Promoting the Rule of Law through the Principle of Subsidiarity in the African Union: A Critical Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-51
Author(s):  
O’Brien Kaaba ◽  
Babatunde Fagbayibo
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
African Union ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Regional Economic ◽  
Strict Adherence ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Consistent Approach

The relationship between African Union (AU) and Regional Economic Communities (recs) frameworks, especially as it relates to the application of the principle of subsidiarity to intervention that aims to ensure strict adherence to democratic standards, is at the heart of this article. Although there exists a 2007 ‘Draft Protocol on the Relations Between the African Union and the Regional Economic Communities’, it is yet to be adopted, and more importantly, its provisions are ambiguous. The same problem of ambiguity applies to the 2008 ‘Memorandum of Understanding (mou) on Cooperation in the Area of Peace and Security Between the African Union, The Regional Economic Communities and the Coordinating Mechanism of The Regional Standby Brigades of Eastern Africa and Northern Africa’. The lack of a consistent approach to situations in Burundi, The Gambia and Zambia, has since raised the question of subsidiarity, or to put it more specifically, the vague articulation of the concept in the AU. In redressing this problem, the article provides some normative suggestions on how to ensure the effective application of the principle of subsidiarity in advancing democracy and good governance in Africa.

Special Issue for GR2P: Africa's Responsibility to Protect Introduction

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 339-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Sarkin ◽  
Mark Paterson
Keyword(s):  
International Adoption ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
African Union ◽  
Weak States ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Territorial Integrity ◽  
International Obligations ◽  
Regional Organisations ◽  
External Interventions

AbstractThe introduction sketches the recent development of the 'responsibility to protect' norm and emphasises its African roots, both in terms of its conceptualisation and implementation and with particular respect to two tragedies—the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and the crisis in Darfur since 2003—that have lent urgency to the norm's formulation and widespread international adoption. The number and extent of R2P cases in Africa are outlined and the roles of the African Union and Africa's regional organisations in implementing the norm are briefly considered. The introduction acknowledges the importance of examining R2P through African perspectives. Referencing the justifications and primary principles for action upon which the norm is founded, the authors also assess the relative strengths of competing notions of sovereignty in Africa. The essay further considers how R2P has come to be seen as a mechanism that can bolster the capacity of weak states to fulfil their sovereign responsibilities to their own citizens, and how new international obligations imposed upon states, and particularly those adopted in Africa, have made significant inroads into the old concept of sovereignty as territorial integrity and freedom from external interventions.

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