HORN OF AFRICA SECURITY DIALOGUE Mapping‘Regional Security’ in the Greater Horn of Africa: Between National Interests and Regional Cooperation Jonathan Fisher April 2014 • National and regional security in the Greater Horn of Africa is largely defined and managed by linked networks of politico-military actors. These networks can, and do, unite around common regional security agendas in response to perceived extra-regional threats. • Combined Ethiopian, Kenyan and Ugandan support for South Sudan, for example, has historically been linked to their shared perception that Khartoum poses a security threat to the region, while regional cooperation on the Nile Waters issue during the 2000s has come in response to perceived Egyptian aggression and brinkmanship. • Regional cooperation often gives way to division and competition when national and individual elite economic interests are threatened or when states perceive their interests in certain theatres differently. This has occurred in eastern Congo, South Sudan and Somalia in recent years, where some governments have initially responded unilaterally to perceived threats to their regime security or economic interests. • The biggest value of regional organizations in the Greater Horn of Africa is, at present, that they bring the leaders of the region together to discuss security issues. • Regional security actors are rarely prepared, however, to clearly articulate their national interests at the regional level, in part owing to norms relating to‘African solutions to African problems’ and pan-African solidarity.