The Horn of Africa is often discussed as though its conflicts belong to separate national stories. Somalia has an Islamist insurgency, Sudan has a war between rival military formations, Ethiopia faces armed rebellions in several regions, and Eritrea repeatedly finds itself at the centre of interstate tension. Looking at these crises separately makes them easier to describe, but much harder to understand. Armed movements in the Horn rarely remain inside the borders of the states they challenge. Fighters move through borderlands, weapons…
