ABSTRACT
The Horn of Africa is one of the most troubled parts of the world. For a long time, the region has been ravaged with recurrent drought and famine, brutal civil conflicts (Somalia and Sudan), interstate armed conflicts (Ethiopia and Eritrea), internal displacement, and widespread, abject poverty, and disease. This situation is due to internal and external destabilizing factors related to ethnicity, tribalism, resource sharing, poverty, strategic international interests, porous borders, and hegemonic desires. The Horn is also one of the most geopolitically important regions of the world. It is located along the busiest shipping routes between the Red Sea basin and the Indian Ocean. The region produced the second highest number of refugees (after the Central and Great Lakes regions) in sub-Saharan Africa (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] 2009). It is a sad scenario to see crises of extensive magnitude in countries that share many common sociocultural and linguistic heritages.
