The Horn Of Africa States: The Unruly Governance – OpEd
The Horn of Africa States region is not new to dictatorial tendencies of its leaderships. The region’s population consists of tribal and clan infrastructures, which have not yet moved into modern nation infrastructures. The tribes/clans are usually held together through chieftaincy, irrespective of the different names they have assumed over the centuries. They had kings, sultans and emperors, and whatever a tribal leader would call himself.
They have ruled mostly through either suppressive laws or anarchic processes where the strong-willed would over-rule everyone else. A new breed has arisen in the region who call themselves the politicians. They discovered a new way of earning a living by inciting one tribe or clan against another and they come to power in the new governing infrastructures inherited from colonial Europe in the form of governments. They hardly understand how governments work but only see them as a source of power, money and prestige or really do not care as long as they can squeeze the last cent of the systems they have created, and they usually are the first to break the rules these governments, which they lead, institute.
No wonder, the populations rise against them, while many migrate and exile themselves in other countries. Many more are jailed or killed by the junta politicians who take over countries through tribal/clan appeals. Still many more are maimed through the wars and the irritatingly continuous disruptions to life in the region.
The challenges to the region continue through many new phenomena that have arisen in the region including the appearance of a plethora of NGOs, many........
© Eurasia Review
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