US Policy in the Horn of Africa under the Obama Administration

The Horn of Africa has recently seen renewed interest from several competing global economic powers including China, Russia, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Brazil. Part of these nationsī attraction to the region seems to be the regionīs richness in oil, minerals, overseas farmlands, its being an ideal arms deal and piracy destination, as well as the strategic importance of the region for military purposes. For these reasons, the Obama Administration has every responsibility to synchronize US policy and interests in the region with democratization and stability.

Experts on the Horn of Africa in the fields of conflict resolution, international affairs, history, global studies and politics have analyzed the scenarios of US policy under the Obama Administration at a conference organized by the Oromo Studies Association (OSA) in Washington D.C, Howard University.

Terrence Lyons, Professor of Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, said, "While Ethiopia is an important US ally in the region, there are reasons to think that there is convergent crises in the region as well as in Ethiopia. Lyons pointed out that the closing and degenerating political process in Ethiopia after the 2005 general elections violence provides one of the reasons to worry about the stability of the country and the prospect for the Horn of Africa. With reference to Oromia State of Ethiopia, he said the Oromo Peopleīs Democratic Organization (OPDO), a subsidiary of the Ethiopian Peoplesī Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), failed to bring any change in the political and economic lives of the Oromo people even more than any branch of the Ethiopian government.

The second speaker, Professor David Shinn, US Ambassador to Ethiopia (1996-1999), discussed in- depth that every conflict in the region involves more than two neighboring countries at a time and that it is imperative for the Obama Administration to take that into account. In the face of stifled political processes and growing conflicts, he said that the best option for Oromo and other Ethiopian oppositions to pursue is to strengthen civil society organizations. He did not comment on the new Ethiopian NGO law that bans development and human rights organizations if their foreign funds exceed 10 %.

"We [Oromo people] live here [USA] and we are interested in the success of the US policy in the Horn of Africa," said the third speaker Dr. Ezekiel Gebissa of Oromo heritage. While he expressed his optimism that the New White House, composed of people who understand the conflict regions of our world well, will be more open towards bringing warring parties such as the Ethiopian government, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Ogaden Liberation Front (ONLF) to the negotiation table to end conflicts, he also acknowledged that it is practically impossible for the Obama administration to go around and knock down repressive regimes. He said that for US policy to succeed in overcoming the growing anti-American sentiment in the region, it is also expected of the people of the region to embrace what he called "the Obama Vision or Phenomenon". By that he meant that the priority of the Obama Administration is to serve the US interests first and it will be helpful for Ethiopian peoples to embrace US interests to mutually advance their own.

The fourth speaker, Professor Asafa Jalata, carried out vast socio-historical analyses of the dire economic and social consequences of the US support for successive minority regimes in Ethiopia (Amhara 1950s-1960s, TPLF/Tigre early 1970s to the present) against the majority. He calls on the White House to exercise its moral authority in support of justice for the oppressed Oromo people and all the peoples in Ethiopia and the region.

The fifth speaker and the youngest professor, Leonardo R. Arriola from the University of California, Berkley, shared his research findings with the audience. He found that the deployment of non-Oromo Federal Police to quell protest in opposition strongholds in west Oromia, Ethiopia, have led protesters to have feelings of alien invasion and that exacerbated protests and made them to last 4-5 months on average, during which hundreds are detained and several tens are killed. "After 2005, there is hardly any media coverage of the violence in Oromia and that is not good," said Arriola. He also said that student protesters are torn between government forces who blame them as opposition and rebel sympathizers and also that the rebels (OLF) make a big leverage out of student protests and further put student lives in dangers. "Everybody is playing īballī with the students". For instance, the OLF issues press releases praising students for being the vanguard of their people after every protest and the EPRDF government uses that as a justification for attacks.

Photo: US Ambassador David Shinn giving a talk on US Policy in the Horn of Africa at the 2009 OSA mid-year conference in Washington D.C, Howard University.