ABSTRACT
This chapter grapples with the question of why the Organisation of African Unity's (OAU's) doctrine has not succeeded in deterring secessions and territorial wars in the Horn of Africa. It examines the secessions in the Horn of Africa, including Eritrea, South Sudan, and Somaliland, as well as the Ogaden's intractable conflicts, in an attempt to explain why the OAU doctrine has neither deterred wars nor prevented breakups of countries in the region. Somaliland's secession does not contravene the OAU doctrine of non-violability of colonial boundaries. In the Somaliland case, the secession represents unilateral abrogation of a union in reaction to poor governance by the post-colonial Somali state as well as to dissociate itself from Somalia's endless civil war. By contrast, the South Sudan case represents the only secession in Africa which succeeded. However, even in this case, the secession came though the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005, which paved the way for legal secession.
