Addis Ababa: The Horn of Africa is going through a phase of reconstruction, where there are signs of opportunities and positive development, Institute for Security Studies East Africa Regional Director Paul-Simon Handy said.
In an exclusive interview with ENA, Handy said the Horn of Africa region is going through a phase of reconstruction and regional organizations have been exerting efforts to implement some of the rules.
‘It’s true that very often we tend to criticize regional organizations for the failure of member states themselves,’ the director stated, noting that regional organizations are, however, the reflection of member states.
According to him, solutions should first come from member states and they should have a regional dimension.
‘For instance, climate change, which is a threat to the region, cannot be addressed only at the national level and needs a regional approach. Organizations like IGAD have in this regard played a very important role in terms of climate change and environmental issue
s,’ he elaborated.
IGAD has actually been instrumental in the sophisticated early warning systems for climate disasters to help member states address the challenges thereof.
Besides, Handy pointed out that the Horn of Africa region is probably Africa’s most strategic region.
‘We will always have the interests of external actors. It cannot be overstated that external actors will always come. The region is strategic.’
The director elaborated that external actors are interested in the Horn because of the safety of international trade and it is one of the most crucial trade routes that links Europe and Asia, some of the two most important regions for world trade.
These external interventions will always be there, he noted, adding that ‘the question is, how do states channel them so that they are not only useful for them at a national level, but also for regional cooperation and integration?’
Handy believes that this does not have to be contradictory, but it’s difficult because governance is different from s
tate to state; and the types of regimes we have are sometimes different and have different interests.
The director advised the Horn of Africa countries to strengthen trade relations to prevent conflict.
‘Unfortunately, Africa is one of the regions of the world in which member states trade the least with each other. Unfortunately, African states trade with external actors… (But) we need to have economies that complement each other, not that compete with each other.’
At the moment, he said that if we compare Ethiopia with its neighbors, we would see that there is a high degree of similarity in what they export. Ethiopia exports coffee, flowers, and a few other things that many of the neighbors also do.
Handy added that ‘Ethiopia has identified it quite well and worked on it for several years on industrialization, which can make Ethiopia the industrial hub of the region and now disseminates manufactured products across the region.’
The regional director further stressed that the African Continental Free T
rade Area (AfCFTA) can contribute to making member states in all the regions of Africa, particularly in the Horn, trade with each other, but do not have the same products that they export.
‘If they [member states] are dependent on each other on trade, it will be the best contribution to conflict prevention,’ he underscored.
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aims to foster economic cooperation and create a unified market across the continent; and regional organizations like IGAD play pivotal roles in driving regional economic integration.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency