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The Horn of Africa as Common Homeland The State and Self-Determination in the Era of Heightened Globalization Leenco Lata 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page i The Horn of Africa as Common Homeland The State and Self-Determination in the Era of Heightened Globalization 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page ii 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page iii The Horn of Africa as Common Homeland The State and Self-Determination in the Era of Heightened Globalization Leenco Lata 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page iv We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing activities. We acknowledge the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Ontario Book Initiative. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Lata, Leenco The Horn of Africa as common homeland : the state and self-determination in the era of heightened globalization / Leenco Lata. 1. Self-determination, National—Africa, Northeast. 2. Africa, Northeast—Poli- tics and government—1974– i. Title. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-88920-456-x dt367.8.l38 2004 963.07'2 c2004-905083-4 © 2004 Wilfrid Laurier University Press Waterloo, Ontario, Canada www.wlupress.wlu.ca Cover photograph: Mogadishu, Somalia. Gunman on guard outside the offices of a new radio station, Horn Afrik, to protect it from looting bandits or militiamen from rival clans. A sign on the wall asks that visitors leave their weapons outside the com- pound. Photo © Sven Torfinn/Panos Pictures. Cover design by Leslie Macredie; text design by P.J. Woodland. Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and omissions called to the publisher’s attention will be corrected in future printings. ●∞ Printed in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or trans- mitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the pub- lisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777. 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page v Dedicated to Gunnar Hasselblatt for his solidarity and generosity at a time when the struggle of the Oromo people had very few friends. 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page vi 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page vii Table of Contents List of Figures and Maps ix Acknowledgements xi Introduction 1 Part I Self-Determination in History 13 1 Self-Determination as Popular Sovereignty 15 2 Decolonization in Africa: Aberrant Self-Determination 31 3 Post-Cold War Trends in the Nature of the State 37 4 Emerging Trends in Self-Determination 65 Part II Resonance of Conflicts in the Horn of Africa 83 5 Interactive State Formation in the Horn of Africa 85 6 The Uncertain and Interdependent Fate of Horn Entities 105 7 Nation-Building: Fitting States into National Moulds 115 8 Nation-Building in the Sudan 139 9 Unification and Nation-Building: Somalia’s Sacred Mission 155 10 Imagining the Horn of Africa Common Homeland 163 11 Conclusion 191 References 201 Index 215 vii 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page viii 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page ix List of Figures and Maps Figure 1 Graphic Representation of Community in Space and Authority 77 Map 1 Egyptian Lines of Advance 89 Map 2 French and Italian Lines of Advance 95 Map 3 Tripartite Partition: Kitchener Scheme of 1913 107 Map 4 Anglo-Italian World War i Partition Scheme 107 Map 5 Italian Administrative Divisions 109 ix 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page x 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page xi Acknowledgements It is impossible to mention all the people and institutions that assisted me while I was undertaking the study that led to this work. I would like to let all those whom I do not mention here know of my deep sense of gratitude. If this work contributes minimally to the promotion of jus- tice, peace, and democracy in the Horn of Africa, I hope that will serve as their reward. Nancy and Ernie Regehr deserve a special mention because their friendship and generous donation of their time were deci- sive in enabling me to complete this book. Dr. Siegfried Pausewang read an early rough draft of this book and gave me valuable comments and advice. I am grateful for his encouragement. I am similarly grateful to Dr. Asafa Jalata, who gave me valuable feedback after reading an early draft. However, all the shortcomings of the work and the views it reflects are solely mine. I would also like to thank Anna and Tony Luengo for their friendship and encouragement. Their assistance was critical in enabling me to find an appropriate publisher. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Brian Henderson and other staff members of Wilfrid Laurier University Press for guiding me through the process that led to the publication of this book. I admire the patience of Charles Anthony Stuart who did so much in making this writing more comprehensible. I am very grateful to him for his superb editorial work. To my soulmate, Martha Kuwe Kumsa, I say once again say thank you for serving as the sole source of my refuge and intellectual motivation. xixi 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page xii 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page 1 Introduction ORIGIN OF THIS STUDY This work originated from readings I undertook merely to satisfy my curiosity and clarify my thoughts. The search for clarification was prompted by two events that occurred in the course of my participation in the Oromo people’s struggle for national self-determination. These were the end of the Cold War and my exposure to the interrelatedness of conflicts in the Horn of Africa. Let me explain why both experiences impelled me to seek improved clarity of thought. First, I participated in the formation of the Oromo Liberation Front (olf) and in framing its agenda for self-determination in the early 1970s when socialism was the most fashionable political ideology in the Horn region. Consequently, the Oromo struggle for self-determination was conceptualized as part of a worldwide process of ending both class and national oppression within the wider goal of bringing about a totally new world order. Despite the rising implausibility that I would witness the dawning of this new world order during my lifetime, its long-range fea- sibility remained comfortingly possible until the momentous year of 1989. The initial rumblings of 1989 eventually resulted in the collapse of the Iron Curtain that stood between the “pioneers” of the promising “future” world order and their opponents, thus bringing the Cold War to an end and with it the political bearings that we as activists were accus- tomed to. Not only the neat left/right configuration of world political division but also the conception of movements as either forward or back- ward oriented went up in smoke. Furthermore, all such struggles for self- determination thereafter risked losing whatever universalist content they had had until then, at least theoretically. When the Cold War was unravelling I had no time to dwell on this emerging difficulty as I was busy reacting to one of its local repercussions: the overthrow of the 1 00prelims.qxd 11/25/04 10:28 Page 2 2 Introduction Soviet-backed Ethiopian regime commonly known as the Derg. I could hence afford the time to reflect on and read about political developments emerging in the post-Cold War period only after my colleagues graciously demobilized me in late 1993. Let me now touch upon the second reason why I started the readings that eventually led to this work. During my participation in the Oromo struggle, particularly from 1978 to 1991, I stayed for varying periods of time in Djibouti, Somalia, and Sudan. During this period I was able to interact with these countries’ common folk as well as their leaders, which enabled me to observe first-hand their similarities and differences. Much more importantly, I started to realize how quickly political developments reverberated throughout the Horn region. The Oromo people’s struggle for national self-determination in particular had the peculiar misfortune of being negatively influenced by developments in Somalia and the Sudan. First, Oromia (the Oromo-settled areas of Ethiopia) stretches from edges of the Ogaden lowlands in the east to Ethiopia’s border with Sudan. The first complication that the Oromo struggle faced was the redefinition of the area targeted for annexation to realize Greater Somalia. Mohammed Siad Barre’s regime staked claim not only to the Ogaden but also to the Oromo-inhabited areas east of the Great Rift Valley, which constitutes almost half of the Oromo country. The rancour that inevitably ensued from this overlapping territorial claim had damaging consequences for both Somalia and the olf. The Siad regime’s ill-advised policy turned potential allies into enemies, thus prompting the olf to resist the annex- ation of eastern Oromia. The perhaps understandable aspiration of gath- ering all Somali speakers into one state could have probably succeeded in the absence of this complication. When this aspiration, which once con- stituted the pillar of Somali national consensus and cohesion, started dimming, however, the course that led to the currently reigning chaos was set. At the same time, the same complication severely stymied the growth of the olf.

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