AEGIS ECAS 2007 - View abstract

Panel	53. Les effets socio-économiques de la « deuxième décolonisation africaine » au nom du marché libre et global
Paper ID	314
Author(s)	Laudato, Maj-britt
Paper	No paper submitted
Abstract	Border disputes are very common in Africa. Borders between African states are said to be artificially constructed, delineated by exogenous powers, dividing pre-existent ethnic groups, and, therefore, igniting disputes and conflicts. Nevertheless, not all disputes resulted into such costly, in terms of money and casualties, wars as the one between Eritrea and Ethiopia. In this paper I will compare the management of the Ethio-Eritrean dispute and the way the quarrel between Nigeria and Cameroon over the Bakassi peninsula has been handled and resolved. The two disputes share at least one feature: in both cases the contested territory has been awarded to one of the parties by a decision that the disputing parties had agreed to be final and binding and, in both cases, the decision was later, more or less formally, rejected by one of the parties. However, Nigeria and Cameroon agreed on having further discussion and eventually came to a solution, while Eritrea and Ethiopia are still at odds and there is little hope that their leaders will overlook their claims and engage in a significant debate. The first step of this research is to illustrate what influenced the management and outcome of both conflicts. In order to understand the Ethio-Eritrean conflict it is not enough to take into account the border dispute as such. I will look into the role economic factors have played in this respect, in particular if (and how) the introduction of the new Eritrean currency, in November 1997, did not only had consequences on the economies of the two states as such, but also changed the function and placed more importance on their ill-defined, common boundary. I will then look into the role played by ethnicity in forging the two countries perception of Self and Other: although the leaders of both countries belong to the same ethnic group and the war has been often described as a war between brothers, in fact, the role of ethnicity has to be taken into account if, to quote Dominique Jacquin-Berdal, “identity formation is understood not as a primordial given but as relatively flexible process”.* In spite of a common ethnic origin, Eritrean Tigrayans, or at least their leadership committed as it was in the years following independence with the construction of a strong feeling of national belonging within Eritrea, have developed a perception of Ethiopian Tigrayans as Others. Consequently, I will try to observe how the identity perception has influenced the connotation given to the border between the two countries. Parallel to this, I will analyse the distinctive nature of the border as it is perceived in West Africa, with particular emphasis on the Nigerian-Cameroonian border. The final purpose of my research is to observe, considering also the Nigerian-Cameroonian example, which presumptions and conditions provide a suitable environment in which dialogue and negotiation are able to develop and eventually succeed. * Dominique Jacquin-Berdal “The Eritreo-Ethiopian war”, in Dominique Jacquin-Berdal and Martin Plaut “Unfinished Business. Ethiopia and Eritrea at War” Lawrenceville, NJ, The Red Sea Press, 2004, pag. xiii

Boundaries, identities and the management of border disputes. Comparing the Ethio-Eritrean and the Nigerian-Cameroonian conflicts.