The Horn of Africa States today stands at a critical crossroads where the shadows of chronic instability and a bright potential of economic integration are colliding. For decades, the region has over the years been defined as a conflicted space. The region now needs to shift gears and move away from serving as a playground for middle-power rivalries, specifically the interventionist policies of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and others toward a domestic agenda of peace and industrialization. 

The argument against war in the Horn is not merely moral  but an economic imperative. The region is home to over 170 million people, a demographic powerhouse with a median age under 20. When leadership chooses conflict, they are actually squandering this youthful dividend on the front lines of unnecessary wars and conflicts or losing them to perilous migration journeys toward Europe, the Americas, and the Gulf. 

The leadership should revamp the region to make it peaceful with the intention of making it Africa’s premier logistics hub, where trains and roads could start from to reach the furthest corners of the continent, and where its major deep ports could become not only ports but also........

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