The region is rich and has an immense potential, that is being wasted by the day by mostly its elite and its leadership, both ruling and opposition, and indeed, by its civic societies. They all seem to be clueless and/or without campus as to what they want to do, except perhaps, their individual nations and/or personal ambitions, which are crumpling under their own feet.
They all think in terms of their own single country values, fears and ambitions and, indeed, lead each state to oblivion without even realizing the end result of their actions and/or non-actions. None of the region’s leadership has so far been able to say that this or that may not be acceptable to my people or the region for such a long time. It is now almost impossible to think of a regional approach to anything, although the region does enjoy a common long history and co-existence prior to some 150 years ago.
The region, was indeed, a loser during this period, when it was divided into clan/tribe fiefdoms by the powers of Europe that sat down in Berlin in 1884 to divide Africa among themselves. During the past 150 years, the region remained divided, at war with itself and with others and has not been able to use its potential nor able to assert its influence anywhere. Can its leadership stop one day and take a deep breath to assess the region and its conditions and its possibilities, which are many?
Many countries and/or regions who want to change their lot think in terms of emphasizing on economic growth, attracting world-class destination for investments. They prepare for and build world-class infrastructures, communications linkages, low- and transparent-income taxes, state of the art air and sea linkages and, indeed, strong regulatory frameworks that protect the interest of both the local and foreign investor, who may show up at its doors. Most notably, a country and/or region that needs to develop must always adopt a neutral diplomatic political approach to international issues, to assure others that it is not an enemy to any of the world and/or regional powers that abound around it.
The world is changing, and many are still mesmerized at the changes taking place right in front of their eyes. The West, indeed, sees the world moving away from it, albeit slowly. The East also notices that it is rising to power levels it could only dream of in the past but is unable to harnessing it. The emerging powers are not all united and there needs to be differing approaches to each of the emerging powers, without antagonizing any. The Horn of Africa States region needs to wake up to the challenges surrounding it and the emerging multi-polar world. It should not continue to be the loser region, which any power exploits for its own ends, without returns, as it appears today.
No effort is painless, and the region would have to pay a prize for setting out to build a regional framework, but the rewards would be greater than the cost, in the medium and longer run, and even in the short term. The countries of the region should start to be working together and slowly build a common approach with respect to the region’s economic development, foreign policy issues and indeed, internal and domestic policies, that aim to moving away from the antagonisms implanted in the region during the past 150 years through the maneuverings of others.
The region needs to develop and harness a new social order that keeps together into a cohesive whole the diverse linguistic and religious communities of the region through engineering economic development based on uncompromising educational standards that are second to none. The leadership must look at its populations as the only capital it owns and it does, indeed, own a large population which if mobilized correctly and wisely would be an achiever group. The region must put forward meritocracy as they key element in selecting people for positions of importance in each country and the region, instead of the tribe/clan and/or family members, which seems to have been eating away at the region’s possibilities for a long time. There should be no tolerance for corruption or complacency, and, indeed, nepotism of any kind. It is how the region can shine again and thrive.
Politicians can reverse any gains made by a country or region. We have seen this happening in the region many times and we, must therefore, note that it needs more than just an economic policy to move forward, and especially a rule of law and an efficient governance structure that must be implemented to the letter, to fight off corruption and instabilities, initiated by tribal/ethnic or incompetent politicians on the behest of others.
The region owns substantial natural assets, which todate remain under-exploited. They include the long maritime coast of the region where a huge and unparalleled blue economy can be set up. The region also owns a huge surface land, with varying reliefs and biodiversity. It indeed owns large agricultural lands that need to be exploited to secure its food requirements and food for others. The region also owns a large animal population and the lands to keep them, and the region enjoys some of the best climes in the world, which although is currently changing under the weight of the actions of others, can still be harnessed for the development of the region. This brings us to the other main asset of the region – freshwater and rivers and lakes. The region is the source of the Blue Nile, the Tekeste, the Omo, the Shabelle and the Juba rivers and many others, which can be adroitly exploited to satisfy the region’s needs in terms of hydropower, irrigation and just simply for drinking.
The region enjoys a geostrategic location coveted by many a nation, which make it to be a hub for air and sea linkages in the world. Building and developing state of the art airports and seaports through investor friendly policies can be a great potential for the region. This requires a regional approach and regional thinking. It should once again become an international trading hub as it was always from time immemorable, when it was known as the land of cinnamon, when it does not even grow cinnamon.
How does one entice the region’s experts and those of others to the region? It is very simple. Offer them good rewards and compensation and they would no longer be interested in politics but would develop their fields of expertise. Offer the populations safety when they grow old in terms of pensions and health services. Offer the populations good education to their young and build good infrastructures – roads, railways. We know it is not all possible from the governments “As Is” today. But allow foreign investors to operate in the region and allow them to expatriate their profits. They would come with more investments and allow only the good ones and not the unscrupulous middlemen, as happens today. This would help move the populations from village settings to sophisticated urban settings.
What does the future hold for the region? We believe the future of the region could be bright despite all that is going around in the world. It is positively located in the center of the world, and it could sustain growth levels that it did not experience in the past. It should be thinking in terms of importing immigrants from Europe and other highly sophisticated societies such as the Americas andéor the Asiatics. Offer them permanent residences and if necessary, citizenships and hey would uplift the regionès populations to higher standards, instead of relying inexperiences technocrats from the region. They would add on to the development of the region, on the condition that they keep their failing values away.
The region would need to offer competitive wages and good living standards if it has to attract other highly competent and educated people into the region, which should uplift the local populations. Accordingly a mix of both high tech-industries and the traditional agricultural-based economic infrastructures would be advisable for the region. At present constructing the necessary infrastructural frameworks such as roads and railways, airports and seaports and educational institutions would be helpful. The region should be thinking in terms of where it should be in the next decade as a region and not as to what the politicians are thinking in terms of their personal ambitions. A regional airline hub, a regional financial center, a regional shipping center and a hence a regional logistics center and hosting not only high-tech but also multinational companies, is how the region should be thinking in the coming years, away from the tribe, the clan and the rivalry among the politicians. It should no longer be a loser region but a successful region able to contribute to development of humanity.