European colonial intervention in the nineteenth/twentieth century, involving the creation of the current country infrastructure of the region, baseless historical narrative adopted by Ethiopia-cum-Abyssinia, and the denial of ultimate rights and freedoms to nations of the region is mostly responsible for the troubles and travails of the region.

The European arrival in Asia found the voyages to that region via the Atlantic Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope and thereafter across the vast Indian Ocean, long and arduous and were always looking for a shorter route to and from Asia, which eventually led to the construction of the Suez Canal in the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt. It is why and how European colonial countries arrived in the Horn of Africa States region eventually transforming it into the countries of Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti of today.

The Fake Ethiopic Narrative

The state of Ethiopia was not always Ethiopia as its historical lie always claims. It is not three thousand years, nor did it exist before 1932, when it adopted the name Ethiopia, a Greek word for black as is Sudan in Arabic. Both countries of Sudan and Ethiopia should then be one country if color was the determinant for making countries and all other Africans should have also joined. Ethiopia was Abyssinia, a small state in the northern highlands of current Ethiopia. Axum, a Tigray state, was perhaps then, the only power in that northern region.

Current Ethiopia-cum-Abyssinia was created by Menelik II during the closing years of the nineteenth century and by Emperor Haile Selassie, who eventually adopted the name Ethiopia in 1932 when he was throned officially. Menelik II was armed by the European colonial countries and conquered many nations (over eighty) with different languages, cultures and histories. They were conquered through force but remain till today the same different peoples. After a century of existence, it has failed to create a nation due lack of justice and fair systems. The country was ruled throughout its short history by dictators (Emperors, military dictators and ethnic dictators) and continues to be ruled by dictators who have not discovered or learned yet that people can only live together though their own choice.

Eritrea’s long History

Eritrea is an old country as a Greek-speaking Egyptian author tells in the book “The  Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.” It is a reportage of an ancient voyage to Africa and India by the unknown author via the Red Sea. It existed and was perhaps backed by the Axumites in the immediate interior region, although the major part of the voyage was on Somali territories such as Awdal, Berbera, Bossaso, all the way to Hafun. But it does mention Adulis, and other centers of Eritrea.

The Somali File

The Somali country from Djibouti (Ex-French Somaliland) to Tana River Estuary in Kenya and Moyale in the center of Ethio-Kenya border all the way to Cape Guardafui, in the very Horn of Africa remained one vast country until it was divided through colonial imperatives. Only current Somalia remains a truly Somali state while the other regions of the Somali lands remain in the countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya.

The Root Cause of the Current Problems

The forcing of the current infrastructure thus remains one of the main obstacles to peace in the region. Ethiopia is a nation which holds together by force many nations; and as long as that kind of imposition remains, the region may not likely see peace. Forces that do not wish the region well make sure that the chaos and conflicts remain as part of the life systems of the region – a region that cannot allow its people to make their choices.

 Possible Solutions

1. An Integrated Economic Block

The current countries of Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti can form, like the European Union, a new economic block, allowing free movement of labor, capital, goods and services among the countries of the region, while maintaining the current country infrastructure but allowing each country to abide by a new constitutional infrastructure, which gives all citizens in each country freedoms of association, choice, speech, and economic activity.

It would be an ideal situation where people can choose their governments and leaders every so often on regular basis. It would also allow the countries to trade with each other, invest in each other and travel to each other, with ease. This would create a viable regional block, able to negotiate with other blocks and countries of the world for best results be it in trade, or otherwise.

2. Reshaping of the Region

The region can be reshaped through a carefully measured new country infrastructure as follows:

1. All Somali lands (Somalia proper, NFD of Kenya, Somali State of Ethiopia and Djibouti) could be put together as one state
2. An Afar State of Ethiopia as one state
3. Eritrea and Tigray could form one State
4. The Amhara could form their own state
5. The Benishangul could form their own state
6. All the Oromo people could form one state of their own
7. The Sidama People could also form their own state.
8. The southern peoples of Ethiopia could form their own state

These new states can then form one economically integrated region as in (A) above.

In either case of (A) or (B) hereabove, there should be a Master Treaty upon which the constitutions of the states therein, should be drawn from, based on their own specificities and particularities, but which should allow freedom of choice, speech, and association, in any case.

Conclusion

The region currently remains strangled not only by its own idiosyncrasies but also by the wants of others, be they major powers or middle powers or regional countries, that need to benefit from the resources of the region. These include among others the very geostrategic location of the region which puts it in the forefront of global attention.

It can free itself from the current constraints, like the European Union, by promoting its economic integration, eventually putting through a unified foreign policy and cooperation. The current undefined, corrupt systems and dictatorial tendencies in all the countries do not treat the region well and they must be reformed if the region has to play its rightful role in global affairs and not remain on the receiving end of charities and handouts when it is resource rich with a large youthful labor force.