Nearly twenty years ago, the editorial of ROAPE's first special issue (No. 30, 1984) on the Horn of Africa opened with the sombre comment: ‘Manifold, violent social conflict is the hallmark of contemporary history in the Horn of Africa.’ Civil wars were raging then in Sudan, Ethiopia and...

<bold>Bloodshed at Galalu</bold> 23 March 2002: Dawn came that day to find a group of about thirty Afar warriors lying in ambush alongside the road to Djibouti. Newly re-surfaced, Ethiopia's sole link to the sea cuts a straight dark line through the desiccated Alligedhi plain. No vehicles were on the road at...