Paper short abstract:

The paper looks into multiple cases of past and ongoing foreign politico-military engagements in Somalia, Ethiopia-Eritrea and analyzes the strategies used by major external (subregional, regional and global) protagonists to transform the conflict and post-conflict situations in question.

Paper long abstract:

The Horn of Africa provides fertile ground for the analysis of agendas behind foreign politico-military engagements for peacebuilding in areas targeted by ongoing violent conflicts or undergoing postwar reconstruction. Drawing upon the comparative approach, the paper looks into multiple past and ongoing strategies used by external actors to affect and transform the most acute conflict situations in the Horn of Africa. Special attention is given to the cases of Somalia (from 1991 onwards), Ethiopia/Eritrea (1998-2008) and Djibouti (1992-2001), where a number of regional (OAU/AU), subregional (Ethiopia, Kenya) and global (the UN, the USA, France et al.) protagonists have been active in the last two decades. The analysis encompasses multiple elements of and agendas behind the interventions in question, ranging from 'peace enforcement' and the 'war on terror' to 'humanitarian intervention'.

By scrutinizing the step-by-step development and progress of the operations in question, the author finds many 'irreconcilable' discrepancies between their official targets and the nature of change they actually brought about. In particular, there is strong evidence 'from the ground' which shows that external stakeholders often use their military presence to pursue own political and economic agendas under the pretext of 'engagement for peace'. The contribution further assesses sustainability of 'stabilization' dependent on the presence of foreign military forces vs. alternative options, such as deployment of international police forces with strong local components.

Finally, the paper questions, based on its conclusions, the viability of some popular concepts from the theory of conflict resolution, i.e. that of 'privatized warfare'.