Description
The Horn of Africa has been known for the short supply of peace and stability throughout millennia. Recurred and protracted inter-empire, inter-ethnic, interstate, and intrastate conflicts have crippled not only the lives of the ordinary people but also the political and economic developments in the region. Religion, anti-imperialism, irredentism, secessionism, national borders, and mutual intervention were some of the igniting factors of the conflicts. Moreover, the persistent involvement of the superpowers siding with either of the warring parties has exacerbated the raging conflicts in the region. Many studies on the Horn conflicts have suggested a solution to different types of regional integration. However, neither of the proposed regional mechanisms had become active due to the nature of politics and society in the region. Recent reforms in Ethiopia’s leadership and its rapprochement with Eritrea restored the hope of peace in the region.
The trio cooperative initiative that the Ethiopian prime minister proposed to the leaders of Eritrea and Somalia has been labeled as a Cushitic alliance. Thus, it can be said that such regional initiative never experienced the region, and it needs to be examined further if such Cushitic integration could result in the sense of lasting peace in the region. Besides the Cushitic cooperation, this study seeks what each country can probably either gain or lose in the integration from its current political, societal, and economic dimension. Indeed, there are specific challenges ahead of such integration in the region as the previous ones. This paper attempts to highlight the possible national and regional impediments of this integration. The use of interviews and content analysis of some relevant texts, this study identifies that Cushitic cooperation can be an appropriate solution for the prolonged antipathy in the Horn of Africa. It is argued that the gains each country acquires from this cooperation outweigh the loses, particularly Somalia, which has been a battleground for the hostilities in the region for the last three decades.
