Armed and disarmed in Eritrea: the regional dimension of DDR in post-2018 Ethiopia

In 2018, armed groups opposing the incumbent in Ethiopia, agreed to desert the violent means and participate in Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR). Like many DDR processes, it faced discrepant combatant data, lack of clear strategy, poor coordination and delays; these were challenges that emerged from absence of clear DDR planning and elaborated peace agreements between the Ethiopian government and the armed groups. While these technical and political challenges are understood in relation to DDR around the world, analysis tends to acknowledge but fail to properly theorize regional contexts such as the reality where armed groups are hosted by neighbouring countries, the relationship between adjacent countries, proxy wars, insecure borders and the regional dimension of proliferation of arms, which are particular challenges in the Horn of Africa. We argue that these regional realities shaped DDR in post-2018 Ethiopia; groups that were arguably sustained by the very nature of the region itself. Drawing from extensive interviews with armed group leaders and members, civil society and government stakeholders, we contribute towards the understanding of DDR’s regional dimensions; in 2018 the promise of regional stability through the Ethiopian-Eritrean reproachment was central to the armed groups participation in the DDR processes and its management.