Resolving Secessionist Wars in the Horn of Africa: A Call for a Critical Discourse

This article examines how superpower mediation affects the negotiations, and the resolution, of secessionist wars. The negative role of superpower leverage in mediation, it’s argued, is neglected, and depoliticized in the literature which, consequently, legitimizes foreign intervention and exploitation and perpetuates the imposition of ready-made resolutions. Fostering an indigenous end to secessionist wars by promoting subaltern ontologies and epistemologies in order to challenge the theoretical disposition of superpower hegemony in mediation theory, will, positively, strengthen local ownership of peace processes and foster consensus on indigenous resolutions. Superpower intervention in Sudan’s 2005 peace agreement validates the main arguments of the article. Other Information Published in: African Security License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19392206.2024.2329855