Abstract
Discusses the reasons why the Horn of Africa is strategically important to the United States and the many problems afflicting the area.
Description
The Horn of Africa is an impoverished and desolate area plagued by some of the longest running civil wars in the world. Racked with racial, religious and ethnic conflict, the region is one of the most volatile places on earth. Despite overwhelming humanitarian concerns, it is also a region that goes largely unnoticed by the American public. Nevertheless, the Horn of Africa attracted significant attention from the Soviet Union and the United States beginning under the Carter administration and continuing up through the end of the cold war. The region's importance stems from its control of the strategic waterway that lies between the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb. If conflict in the region were to block either of these chokepoints, vital shipments of oil from the Middle East would be forced to go clear around the southern tip of Africa. With no troops in the region, the U.S. worried that due to the presence of Soviet footholds in the area, any crisis could lead to just such a situation. In this episode of Great Decisions, future Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Karen Elliott House of the Wall Street Journal, and Richard Allen, former National Security Advisor to President Reagan, discuss the many issues facing the United States in the Horn of Africa and the reasons behind the region's continued importance.
