Armed Groups Along Sudan’s Eastern Frontier: An Overview and Analysis (HSBA Working Paper 9)

Borderlands in the Horn of Africa have long been the focus of conflict, partly because they are ill-defined, but more because they are areas where government authority tends to be minimal. As a result, they provide a suitable environment for the development and operation of armed groups dedicated to political or criminal activities. Where these groups have a political character they are largely a response to state domination by minority groups or are the product of government efforts to destabilize or overthrow neighbouring governments.

Armed Groups Along Sudan’s Eastern Frontier: An Overview and Analysis examines armed groups along Sudan’s eastern frontier, analysing them both in historical terms and in the context of rapidly changing governments and inter-state relations. During Sudan’s first and second civil wars dissident southerners gained the support of neighbouring states. Successive national governments in turn supported armed groups opposed to the regimes in Addis Ababa and later Asmara in a pattern that has continued until the present.

Given the undemocratic character of governments in the Horn, the violenceprone inter-state system they have produced, and the wide availability of small arms, the study concludes that instability and the dislocation of civilian populations will continue.

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