Paper short abstract:

To understand the impact of secession in the unlocking of Africa's potential, we have to evaluate the trajectory of the last three secessionist successes in Africa.

Paper long abstract:

R. Patman describes the states in the Horn of Africa, and their trajectories, as a "political metaphor" (R. Patman ; 1991). Once again, the creation of a new state in South Sudan reshaped the region's political geography. This study retraces the trajectories of the three post-secessionist states in the Horn of Africa (Somaliland, Eritrea, South Sudan). We will look at the way national elites coming from ranks of guerrillas adopted international rules to build a new state, and how some states have become marginalized as they expressed their opposition to those "rules", thus contributing to the building of a new regional order.

Contemporary crises in the region take their roots in the dissatisfaction which arises from the regional order built at the time of decolonization, around the four following states: Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and DjiboutiIn twenty years, the Horn of Africa has grown from four to seven states, a rather unusual phenomenonIn all three secessionist cases mentionned above, the guerillas who led the fight for independance are now struggling to move from control to governance in these early transition years. It is this ability for a leader to shift from the status of a military man to that of a politician which is the foundation of a successful secession. However, the threat of loss of internal and / or external sovereignty, following a secession, often serves as a pretext for confiscating power to those who dominated the fight for independance.