Border tension in the Horn of Africa: Opportunities for Sudan-Ethiopia collaboration

In this seminar, we will draw lessons from the borderlands between Sudan and Ethiopia. The communities here have long relied on cross-border agriculture, grazing and trade for their livelihoods, and have nurtured ethnic, linguistic, familial and cultural connections for centuries. During the past two years, however, these communities have witnessed extraordinary changes following the eruption of conflict in the Tigray region in North Ethiopia and border tension between Sudan and Ethiopia over the fertile land in Al-Fashaga between the Amhara region in Ethiopia and Gedarif state in Sudan.

We will focus on the opportunities for cross border community collaboration between Sudan and Ethiopia in reducing border tension. Researchers from universities on both side of the border will explore the factors that pull communities together and push them apart, ultimately aiming at identifying factors that can promote peaceful co-existence between the two major powers in the Horn of Africa.