International Crisis Group Releases New Reports on Horn Countries

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group has recently published two reports on countries in the Horn. The first, released August 12, is Somalia: The Trouble with Puntland, and the second, which came out today, is Ethiopia: Ethnic Federalism and Its Discontents.

South-central Somalia has been struggling against an Islamic insurgency since the beginning of May, while the two semi-autonomous regions to the north, Somaliland and Puntland, have been working to build viable local governments. Somaliland has struggled to ensure democracy and security, while Puntland has had its own share of security-related issues, most notably the issues of piracy.

The report targets several key areas that have been facing a downward trend in recent years, including: poor governance, internal security and intra-clan cohesion (the Darood clan being the most prominent in this area of the country). These issues are compounded by the high rates of unemployment and low levels of income.

Ethiopia, while it has experienced its fair share of internal and external security threats, faces a different challenge with democratic consolidation and free expression of minority ethnic groups. Home to over eighty different ethnicities, the country adopted a very progressive and liberal constitution based on a strong federalist power structure with eight, ethically diverse states and two city-states. The constitution also provides political space for minorities, allowing ethnic groups that feel underrepresented or oppressed to petition the government for secession.

Next year the country will hold presidential and parliamentary elections. But despite its rhetoric, the governing Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Demcratic Front (EPRDF) led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been less forthcoming in its advancement of democracy than most ruling politicians would admit.

Since the 2005 elections, when almost 200 protesters were killed and thousands more arrested, the government has increasingly centralized authority in the hands of Zenawi. In January, Ethiopia's parliament adopted a highly criticized law on high rights groups that banned the work of organizations who received a large percentage of their funds from abroad.

Not only do these reports provide an excellent source for analysis on the current debates and issues arising in both these countries (or semi-autonomous region, as is the case in Puntland), but they also give succinct background information on their political histories.