Paper short abstract:

Ethiopia was involved at one time or another in armed conflicts with its neighbors, except the tiny state of Djibouti to the east and Kenya to the south, in the past. It has also acted as peacemaker in internal Sudanese conflict in the 1970s and is acting now as a peacemaker and peacekeeper in Somalia.

Paper long abstract:

However, historically, Ethiopia's role in conflict-making had overweighed its role of peacemaking. Its role in the destabilization of Somalia in the 1980s and the collapse of the Somali state in 1990, for example, was not insignificant. This paper questions the role of the peacemaker and image of stability which is ascribed to Ethiopia in the conflict prone region of the Horn of Africa. It argues that Ethiopia has been an epicenter for conflicts in the region in the past and will continue to be so even in the near future. There are two main reasons for that. First, the unresolved border-conflict with Eritrea can explode into armed confrontation any time. Secondly, as long as the conflict between the regime in power and the indigenous peoples of the regional states of Oromia, the Ogaden and Gambella are not resolved, the neighboring countries will also remain open to conflicts that can extend from Ethiopia into their territories. The paper argues that even the role which the Ethiopian regime is playing now in fighting international terrorism as a proxy for the Western countries camouflages heinous violations of human rights which if continued can plunge the region into intractable troubles. It suggests that, rather than containing religious fundamentalism as expected, the present behavior of the regime can instigate religious conflicts from which the region has been free so far. The on-going conflict between the Ethiopian regime and the Ethiopian Muslim community suggests an ominous warning.