HENOK MERHATSIDK 1.pdf - Addis Ababa University

To sum up, Ethiopia and Kenya have vested interest in the establishment of central
government in Somalia that can assert control and assume the functions of major government
services for the Somali’s people. The presence of central government in Somalia will help
reducing cross border incursions including terrorist attacks, exodus of refugees and the
instability of Somali inhibited areas in both Ethiopian and Kenyan provinces. In order to
realize these objectives the two countries under study have been working with IGAD, AU,
UN, US, EU, and with Somali groups for two decades, sometimes with good outcomes but
without bringing lasting peace and stability and restoring statehood in Somalia. However,
their effort is continuing on a different style.
5.2. Issue of Sudan Peace Process
The two neighboring countries under study have been involving in Sudan peace process. At
the time of writing this paper, the south Sudan referendum completed and southern Sudan
people voted for secession according to the temporary result. The Sudan civil war, the
longest one in the continent, was a manifestation of several security complexes in the Horn
sub-region. As many conflicts in the continent has colonial legacy, the Cold War rivalry
between the US and USSR and the Christian versus Islam rivalry are another catalysts for the
Sudanese civil war (Berouk, 2010:2-8). During Emperor Haile Sellasie regime the Sudanese
government provided support for Ethiopian armed oppositions groups in Eritrea, EPLF and
ELF. In reaction, the Emperor also supported Ananya movement in Sudan. Despite this, the
Emperor had played an important role in mediating the Sudanese government with its
southern rival, Ananya, in 1972 in Addis Ababa. This event enabled the two countries having
better relations onwards.
After the down fall of the Emperor’s regime in 1974, the new Ethiopian military regime
(Derg) pursued a policy of assisting the SPLM/A in retaliation to the Sudanese government
support for Ethiopian insurgents, the EPLF and TPLF. The Derg and the Sudanese regimes’
efforts of undermining each other security providing military supports for one another
dissidents groups helped the SPLM/A to capture many of the towns in southern Sudan and
the same issue also facilitated ultimately the collapse of the Derg regime. Despite this, the
53