Counting the Cost: The Greater Horn of Africa 

The views, statements and opinion in the article reflects that of the writer’s , NOT borkena.com ‘s 

By Dawit W Giorgis 

 Part One of Three 

Sixty-four years ago, “John F. Kennedy made 479 references to Africa during the US presidential  campaign. He observed that America had lost ground on the continent because of failures to  meet the ‘needs and aspirations of the African people.’” (Amin) 

We have yet to hear any current US candidates or surrogates mention Africa in this election.  Once again it is the forgotten continent. 

As a senator, John F. Kennedy was the one who pressed the White House to establish the  Bureau of African Affairs in 1958, and the following year, he became chairman of the African  Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As president Kennedy  implemented a new policy toward U.S. relationship with Africa. by creating the Peace Corps and  the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). “And, unlike his  predecessors, he began to show more respect and dignity for African leaders” (Amin). This can  be seen in his extraordinary hospitality and high regard towards His Majesty Emperor Haile  Selassie and the friendship he established with Ethiopian Ambassador Berhanu Dinkie, who  happens to have been my uncle.  

At the height of the Great Ethiopian Famine of 1984-5 I was honored to take President  Kennedy’s brother, Senator Edward Kennedy, on a few days’ tour to drought-affected areas of  Jijiga, Korem, Makale and Bati. It was clear he too had a very high regard for our people.  However, the new policies Kennedy initiated as a president were short-lived as his successors  reverted to previous practices. Richard Nixon claimed blacks were ‘genetically inferior’ to  whites” and Ronald Reagan favored what amounted to a pro-Apartheid policy in South Africa.  President Clinton refused to react or take a position on the genocide in Rwanda. The exception is George W. Bush who personally championed an enormous health initiative  PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief), eclipsing anything that either  President Obama or Clinton did for Africa. PEPFAR has been a huge success, saving millions of  African lives, and has ensured Mr. Bush’s popularity in Africa to this day. (Pilling) Bush was followed by Obama, who as a son of Africa was greeted with high hopes, but he was largely a disappointment. During his eight years in power, he lacked a clear vision and a  strategy. His focus was on Asia (Einashe; See also my article “Absent from Africa”). His  successor, Trump, referred to African countries as “shithole” nations in a meeting. During his  term as president, there was nothing or little that he could be remembered for except his  extreme unpopularity. Most Africans don’t expect that they would be better off if he were to be  elected again. 

President Biden’s legacy for Africa is no better than Trump’s. His most visible, trumped-up  “achievement” was The US African Leaders Summit in 2022 in the White House. It was more a  PR stunt than anything else.  

Africa needs the United States’ engagement. The continent is awash with troubles. Its economy  and security are worse than they have been for decades. For many years now, Africa has  experienced drought, famine, epidemics, more political unrest, more violent extremism, and  coup d’états than any other region in the world and yet has gotten the least attention. The  Horn of Africa has most recently become the next epicenter of global instability along with the  Israel-Gaza crisis. The Middle East and the Horn of Africa have become one enormous, complex  security problem that could lead to a catastrophe worse than the Second World War. Much of  the insecurity is owing to the failure of US policies in the Middle East and Africa.  The United States needs a new approach that is both value- and interest-based. Conflict  resolution is an art and a skill. It requires a personality that commands respect, is  knowledgeable and experienced. The US seems to have run out of visionary global  masterminds, far-sighted, intelligent and respected figures. 

The first US envoy U to the Horn under the current administration was Ambassador Jeffery  Feltman, who stepped down after nine months ( April 23, 2021, to January 10, 2022.) In January  2022, Ambassador David Satterfield became the new U.S. envoy until June 2022. He was  replaced by the current envoy, Ambassador Mike Hammer. In three years, three US envoys  were for the Horn of Africa. This is only a sign that the current administration has never taken  the Horn of Africa seriously. The Horn of Africa is a complex region with conflicts rooted in  colonial legacies, its strategic location, diversity in culture language, religion, and geopolitics. I  don’t want to make any judgment on the individuals appointed but on the administration which  seems at a loss to find the right person for one of the most complex and volatile security zones in the world.  

Africans and indeed many other countries in the world would have wished for conflict  resolution without the intervention of the superpowers. We can confidently attribute the  success in the liberation of almost all the countries of Africa from colonization to determined  African leaders from within and the support of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc in every  aspect of the struggle. Without their support, decolonization would have taken much longer  and would have been more costly because the colonizers were the Western European countries.  

With a unipolar world all that has changed. In a world that has evolved since the end of the  Cold War, development and conflict resolution have been near to impossible without the  involvement of the Western World and the global order created since the Second World War in  institutions like the Bretton Woods System, the UN, IMF, World Bank, ICJ, UNSC, and  UN agencies. Until this global order is changed or until Africa possesses the capacity, unity, and  determination to challenge this order, Africa will have no alternative except to seek  international mediation and intervention in the conflicts that have been created directly and  indirectly by the same superpowers whose assistance we seek today.

The Horn of Africa needs the most serious attention. The human cost of the conflict is already  staggering. It is expected to be the largest human migration ever if the situation is not managed  by the international community with the skills and resources the situation demands. The  political implications are being seen today. Alliances are shifting, arms manufacturers are  braced for the heavy demands, traffickers are grouping, and extremists are ready to activate  their sleeper cells. 

Russia, Iran, Türkiye, and a complex alliance of Arab countries and powerful non-state actors  have already stepped in to exploit a growing power vacuum in the region. That should be yet  another reason for America to change course and be at its best. 

Dawit W Giorgis , Africa Institute for Strategic and Security Studies (AISSS) www.africaisss.org 

Editor’s note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com

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