9. Concluding Remark: The Only Way out is Unity not fighting and spreading hate and lies!
This commentary was prompted by the Conference on the Horn of Africa in Lund. I found the emotional temperature of this conference very high. It was difficult sometimes to see a constructive way out when people who should behave as organic intellectuals and see deeper and with greater vision feel hurt and communicate that hurt. I write this to urge us to go beyond the hurt and find a resourceful way to deal with the many problems and conflicts that complicate the emergence of a bright future for our region.
I think we can only ignore or side step the variegated history of communication of the peoples through migration, civilisation, wars and injustices at our peril. The past must be dealt with moral intelligence and we must be prepared to deploy and construct the present and shape the future. The 19th century burden must be lifted from the backs of our region by only rejecting it and not defending it. Unity of the region must be a priority of priorities. The people must be allowed to come together. The elites must stop using various stratagems to obstruct the crystallisation of people’s unity in the region. The people’s transactions must be increased systematically and not discouraged. The architecture of peace and stability must be built not partially but regionally. There must be legitimate and agreed rules and procedures to bring us together. Without building a common perspective of the region in relation to external and internal challenges, it would be difficult to create enduring institutions that can valorise the power, rights and freedoms of the people of the region by constructive a flexible , sustainable and workable democratic arrangements.
The current destructive expressions of elite nationalisms would not bring the region together too. Religion would not bring us together either. Only sustained commitment to democratisation and liberty to realise and consolidate the unity of the region and the people from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean will bring us to the promise land of unity and development in freedom. And once we unite, we can create the model for the next important project: the unification of Africa starting from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean and culminating with from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. When we become more Africans, we become even stronger Ethiopians, Somalis and Sudanese by embedding our security, stability, peace, freedom, democracy, rule of law, freedoms of association and speech and governance in our region on a sustainable pedigree.
References
- Kwesi Prah, State of The African Nation : the state of the Nation, Casas, Cape Town, 2006
- Shihan de s Jayasuriya & Richard Pankhurst (Eds.) The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean, Africa World Press, Trenton NJ and Asmara, 2003
- Isias Afeworki, (Interview) One Ethiopia, Andit or Hanti Ethiopia, Ministry of Information, Eritrean Government, August,2007:
- A. Osman, Mammo Muchie & Joakim Gundel(eds.), Somalia: Diaspora and State Reconstitution in the Horn of Africa, Adonis-Abbey Publishers, London, 2007-08-28
- Milkias & Metaferia et al, The battle of Adwa, Algora Publishing, New York, 2005
- SIRC, Horn of Africa Conference VI: Post- Conflict Peace- Building in the Horn of Africa, Lund University, Sweden
By Mammo Muchie, Chair, on behalf of Network of Ethiopian Scholars, Scandinavian Chapter