Conflict and Intervention in the Horn of Africa

Bereket Habte Selessie has attempted to compile in one brief volume what is presently understood about the political situation in the Horn of Africa; however, in this very difficult task he has failed to give sufficient consideration to the economic, cultural, and anthropological aspects of the issues he raises (all of which aspects have had an enormous influence on the political environment of that unhappy area). For most of his information he draws on secondary sources and in some cases tertiary sources, which have made his book of dubious value. There is almost no new information contained within this volume, which could not be gleaned elsewhere. In at least one instance, he has quoted a source (p. 58) whose dependence on a further source of questionable existence, brings one to doubt the general basis upon which he has built his argument at that point. There are quotations without footnotes (pp. 108, 163-164) and he discusses the contents of documents and reports which he fails to cite. Some of his arguments are based only on the thin substance of rumour, heresay, and the unknown sources of others' opinions. There is a large body of data which he has chosen to ignore, especially that contained in official government documents (including the United Nations), newspapers, and periodicals. In general, he has failed to bring together all the available data which might have made his various theses more convincing. However, what is even more unfortunate is his lack of objectivity through his biased selection of data. Because of this and other problems in the text one wants to ask his reason for writing the book, which seems in many cases deliberately to distort the facts connected with a particular issue in order to prove the validity of some ill-thought socialist dogmum or to concoct some recipe for carrying on a "protracted people's war" (p. 123).