The Horn Center for Democracy (HCD) joined the Agency for Peacebuilding (AP) and the Muslim Women Advancement of Rights and Protection (MWARP) for a training held in Mombasa, Kenya. The two-day training brought together women mediators and peacebuilders from the Horn of Africa platform established in April 2025, for experience sharing, learning, and reflection. Participants who have served at mediation…
Geopolitics in Motion: External Interventions in the Horn of Africa (HoA) and the Escalation of Conflict in Sudan The Horn of Africa (HoA) occupies a pivotal position in global geopolitics and geoeconomics due to its proximity to critical maritime checkpoints and passways such as the Bab el-Mandab Strait and the Suez Canal, which connect the Middle East and Europe. Situated…
Deputy Director-General(s) Fassikaw Molla and Mesfin Muluneh, along with their Head of Partnerships, visited HCD’s office. During the visit, HCD presented its organizational strategy, multi-year program strategy, as well as its finance and MEAL frameworks. Discussions focused on HCD’s regional engagements and explored potential partnerships to support the capacity building of local organizations in program implementation, operations, and partnerships. HCD…
HCD in collaboration with AP and MWARP hosted a regional webinar titled “Navigating Regional Peace Architectures: AU and IGAD Mechanisms for Women in Mediation and Peacebuilding.” Held on the margins of the African Union Summit, the event brought together peace practitioners, regional experts, and partner organizations to discuss practical ways to strengthen women’s engagement in regional peace and mediation processes in the Horn of Africa.
Beyond the wars, conflicts, insecurity, famine, and recurring droughts that have long defined the Horn of Africa, the region is equally notable as the birthplace of the world’s youngest states. The Horn of Africa introduced two new polities to the international system within just four decades: Eritrea in 1991/93 and South Sudan in 2011, and potentially a third, Somaliland, following Israel’s recognition in December 2025, the first such recognition from a UN member state. While simultaneously rappling with numerous other attempts at state formation and secessionist movements, Israel’s recognition highlights the unsettled nature of state-building in the region.
HCD conducted an internal grant launch event at its office in Addis Ababa to formally inaugurate its new grant and align staff and research associates around the organization’s five-year strategic direction, operational systems, and Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) framework. The session was moderated by Executive Director Frew Demeke and brought together HCD staff and research associates to reflect…
Eritrea’s Withdrawal from the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development: Implications on Bilateral Relations and Multilateral Arrangements Since gaining its independence in 1993, Eritrea has often been characterized as a state diverging sharply from established norms of global diplomacy and political cooperation. Allegations of its involvement in financing fundamentalist movements in Somalia, unresolved border skirmishes with Ethiopia, persistent internal governance and democracy…
HCD welcomed to our office, Professor Mohammed Salih, a Sudanese scholar of Political Science currently an Emeritus Professor at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam and, formerly, Special Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Leiden University, The Hague. During his visit, the Center presented its ongoing programs in Ethiopia and across the…
