Tensions Rise in the Horn of Africa

As tensions rock the Middle East, the Horn of Africa is following suit, with the New Year presenting a critical resurgence of Al Shabab, an Al-Qaida affiliate, helped along by geopolitics that strike at the very heart of Somalia’s territorial sovereignty.  On the surface of the issue is a deal between Ethiopia and the autonomous region of Somaliland that will give landlocked Ethiopia the right to use the port of Somaliland, a region attempting to gain international recognition as a sovereign state and not part of Somalia.  The Port…