CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA \Y Border populations and nomadic pastoralists Across Africa, members of the many ethnic groups that straddle the colonially-imposed borders often face difficulties in being recognised as nationals on either side of that border, even where the laws of both countries place no obstacle to a person holding both nationalities. At the same time, borders in Africa are generally very porous, and those living in border regions may freely cross from side to side, with little regard for the notional change in sovereignty over the territory. Central state institutions may barely exist in remote border regions, or co-exist with other forms of governance, negotiating rather than imposing control over movement of goods and people.*"' Borders are also often not clearly demarcated, and many are contested, including among the states considered in this report. Perhaps those most affected by the challenges created by these borders are the groups following a pastoralist way of life and livelihood—a population of many millions in Africa. In the Horn of Africa, where much land is arid or semi-arid, a large percentage of the population is traditionally of nomadic, or partly settled, pastoralist lifestyle. Pastoralists are estimated to make up 60 percent of the population of Somalia; more than 40 percent in Djibouti; 15 percent in Ethiopia, and 13 percent in Eritrea.?'2 Modern state borders cut across the long-established routes of both transhumant (seasonal) or fully nomadic pastoralist communities; and members of those communities may consequently have a weak sense of belonging to any individual state, paying taxes where they are required to do so, moving with the climate and weather variations, and obtaining identity documents where they can. Pastoralists have also been among the refugee flows and returns across the borders in the region. these pastoralist communities do not have identity documents.?'? populations are found in all Somalia’s neighbouring Many members of Substantial ethnic Somali pastoralist states — Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya — and it is often unrealistic to expect to draw clear lines to allocate families to one or other side of the border.?"4 Similarly, the nomadic Afar are found in Djibouti, Eritrea and Ethiopia,2'> leading to contestations of their status in all three states (national peace accords signed between the government of Djibouti and the Afar Front pour la Restauration de I'Unité et de la Démocratie in 1994 and 2001 included specific 211 For a recent discussion relevant to this report, see Tezera Tazebew and Asnake Kefale, ‘Governing the Economy: Rule and Resistance in the EthiopiaSomaliland Borderlands’, Journal of Eastern African Studies 15, no. 1 (2021): 1-21, https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2020. 1863100. 222 “New Fringe Pastoralism: Conflict and Insecurity and Development in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel” United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, March 2017, Table 2.1, p.6 https://repository.uneca.org/handle/10855/23727. See also “Policy Framework for Pastoralism in Africa: Securing, Protecting and Improving the Lives, Livelihoods and Rights of Pastoralist Communities” African Union, October 2010 https://au.int/sites/default/files/documents/30240-docpolicy framework for pastoralism.pdf. 213 See for example, John Markakis, Pastoralism on the Margin, Minority Rights Group, 2004 https://minorityrights.org/publications/pastoralism-on-themargin-november-2004/. 214 Discussed in the case of Kenya in the report In Search of Protection and Livelihoods: Socio-economic and Environmental Impacts of Dadaab Refugee Camps on Host Communities, Republic of Kenya, Royal Danish Embassy, and Royal Norwegian Embassy, September 2010. 24 Shehim and Searing, ‘Djibouti and the Question of Afar Nationalism’; Kassim Shehim, ‘Ethiopia, Revolution, and the Question of Nationalities: The Case of the Afar’, The Journal of Modern African Studies 23, no. 2 (1985): 331-48, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00000203; John Markakis, ‘Anatomy of a Conflict: Afar & Ise Ethiopia’, Review of African Political Economy 30, no. 97 (2003): 445-53, https://doi.org/10.1080/03056244.2003.9659777; Yasin Mohammed Yasin, ‘Political History of the Afar in Ethiopia and Eritrea’, Africa Spectrum 43, no. 1 (2008): 39-65. UNHCR — December 2021 51