African leaders must cooperate to stop conflict

IT is quite disturbing that, at a time when the rest of the world is working round the clock to avert potential economic crises and harness growth, several eastern and central African countries are still mired in internal and cross-border conflicts.With the region not short of problems, including the long internal strife in Somalia, the continued violence in eastern DRC and the simmering tension between Southern Sudan and the Khartoum government, there are now concerns that Ethiopia and Eritrea may resume hostilities against each other, more than a decade after the end of a bloody war over a border dispute.The United Nations has now joined growing calls for restraint following similar appeals from the Inter-Government Authority on Development (IGAD) and the East African Community (EAC). While the animosity between Addis Ababa and Asmara is not something new, regional leaders must not allow the renewed tension to escalate into a new conflict.With the region seeking to deepen its integration and increasingly market itself as a single investment and tourist destination, it is such situations as the Ethiopia-Eritrea crisis, as well as the insurgencies in Somalia, that constitute the biggest threat to the region’s joint development ambitions. You cannot successfully attract foreign businesses and tourists if the region is branded unstable.The EAC, IGAD and the African Union should work together and take concrete action to resolve the Ethiopia-Eritrea tension while also strengthen mechanisms that seek to pacify Somalia, South Sudan and the DRC.The UN’s support will be valuable but no durable solutions can be found without the region and Africa owning the process.

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African leaders must cooperate to stop conflict