Conflict in the Horn of Africa: The Kenya-Somalia Border Problem 1941-2014
Conflict in the Horn of Africa examines how the Kenya-Somalia border problem has deep roots in pre-colonial and colonial times mirroring the phenomenon of shifting territorial and human frontiers and treaties which Britain, France, Italy, and Ethiopia made before and after World Wars I and II. This book documents the Kenya-Somalia border problem from the nineteenth century, when decisions ignored African concerns, to independence, when Africans acted as the principal players. Vincent Bakpetu Thompson analyses how the crises regarding Kenya and Somalia's domestic situations impacted their international relations in and beyond the region. This book furthers the discussion by looking at the current problems in the region that are obscured by instability, infiltrations, the repetitive influx of refugees crossing and re-crossing the border, and increasing terrorist attacks.
Publisher: University Press of America
Published: United States, 9 February 2015
Format: Hardcover, 422 pages
Age Range: 0+
Dimensions: 23.2 x 18.2 x 3.4 centimeters (0.77 kg)
Writer: Vincent Bakpetu Thompson
Table of Contents
List of Tables and Maps Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Part I Chapter 1. The Foundations of Somali Irredentism 1895-1960 Part II Chapter 2. Preliminaries: Domestic Policy and Diplomacy 1960-1963 Chapter 3. Commissions for Kenya and Their Aftermath 1962-1963 Chapter 4. The Shifta Episode: The Problem Unfolds 1963-1969 Part III Chapter 5. Peace or War: Post-Shifta Period 1969-1977 Chapter 6. Kenya, The Ogaden War and International Relations 1977-1978 Part IV Chapter 7. Kenya-Somalia Relations Since the Ogaden War 1978-2014 Chapter 8. Summary and Implications: The Way Ahead Appendix I Appendix II Appendix III Abbreviations Notes on Terms Bibliography
About the Author
Vincent Bakpetu Thompson, PhD, is emeritus history professor of Connecticut College. He has authored books on Pan-Africanism and the African diaspora in the Americas. He lived in Kenya in the 1970s where he taught history at the University of Nairobi and was recipient of the distinguished Africanist award from the New York African Studies Association in 2004. He now lives in Rhode Island.
Reviews
Thompson has revised and updated to 2014 his doctoral dissertation of 1984 to 'contribute to an understanding of the international relations of two African states and the wider international implications of the conflict.' What is portrayed by Somalis as a territorial and human rights dispute concerning the irredentist aspirations of their ethnic kin in Kenya's Northern Frontier District is defined by Kenya as a border disagreement involving security, stability, and migrants. The author narrates and analyzes this polarization of positions in detail and includes a vast amount of information about the internal politics of both Kenya and Somalia. He also discusses the important role of Ethiopia with its own Somali population and that of the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union, struggling diplomatically with the sensitive issue of established colonial boundaries. * CHOICE *