Beyond Conflict in the Horn: Prospects for Peace, Recovery and Development in Ethiopia, Somalia and the Sudan [Paperback]

Martin Doornbos (Author), Lionel Cliffe (Author), Abdel Ghaffar M. Ahamed (Author), J. Markakis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1992 | ISBN-10: 0932415822 | ISBN-13: 978-0932415820

This book lays out the conditions necessary for the recovery and development of the states of the Horn of Africa, following the cessation of warfare in the countries of the sub region.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

There is now some hope for an end to the conflicts which have devastated the Horn of Africa for the past thirty years.

In February 1991 the repressive regime in Somalia gave way to a painstaking process of building a coalition based on consensus. In May 1991 the military regime of Mengistu in Ethiopia was toppled and his army disbanded; the various opposition groups and national minorities are, for the moment, cooperating to build a democratic regime; Eritrea's long war for self-determination has finally ended. Sudan and Somalia are still beset by conflicts and their instability could spill over to the neighboring countries.

Peace has its own challenges. Millions of displaced people need to return home. Combatants and war victims will have to be rehabilitated. Famine relief will have to continue under quite different circumstances.

Peace allows the countries to think about long-term economic development, food security, the reversal of environmental decay and the resumption of internal and cross-border trade. Will the opportunities for regional cooperation be seized and the tensions between states be overcome?

This book is the first comprehensive assessment of the requirements for recovery and the development in the Horn following the cessation of conflict. It is a concerted effort by experts from the countries themselves, by international specialists and by representatives of NGOs to address the problems of the region. The timing of these thoughts about building peace could not be better. The challenge of this agenda is enormous.

About the Author

Martin Doornbos is Professor of Political science at the Institute of Social Studies. His research and publications have focused on politics of rural development in Africa as well as India, and on state/civil society relationships. He is managing editor of Development and Change.

Lionel Cliffe is Professor of Politics and ex-Director, Centre for Development Studies, Leeds University. He is founding editor of Review of African Political economy. He has worked on and in East and Southern Africa for 30 years, including several visits to Eritrea. Most recently he co-edited a volume on the Eritrean struggle with Basil Davidson.

Abdel Ghaffar Mohamed Ahmed is Professor of Social anthropology, University of Khartoum. He has published a number of books and articles (in English and Arabic) on issues related to rural development with special reference to pastoral communities. He is presently engaged in research on the socio-cultural dimension of development assistance in East Africa as well as the impact of drought on food production and food security in the Sudan Savannah Belt.

John Markakis is Professor of African Studies in the Department of History and Archaeology, University of Crete. The Horn of Africa is his area of special interest; he has followed social and political developments there closely for the past 25 years. He has lived and worked in Ethiopia, and carried out research in the Sudan, Somalia and Kenya. Among his publications are Ethiopia: Anatomy of a Traditional Polity (1974), Class and Revolution in Ethiopia (1978), National and Class Conflict in the Horn of Africa (1987).

Product Details

• Paperback: 243 pages
• Publisher: Red Sea Pr (September 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0932415822
• ISBN-13: 978-0932415820
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,622,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars I came away feeling hopeful., April 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Beyond Conflict in the Horn: The Prospects of Peace, Recovery, & Development in Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea & Sudan (Hardcover)

This book is a collection of papers from a workshop at the Hague in 1991. Together, the papers outline the problems facing the countries in the Horn of Africa, not only the damage from decades of warfare, but also lack of water, infrastructure, and so on. The problems facing the region are so great that it is easy to become pessimistic that there are any ways to solve them all, but the workshop itself, and this book, give hope by their very existence: to begin looking for solutions is to believe that solutions exist. I came away feeling somewhat more hopeful.