The Horn of Africa - principally Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia - is the stage on which Africa's tragedy is being played out in its most stark and violent form. In this comprehensive history of the region, Peter Woodward argues that while the principal conflicts have arisen from domestic issues of ethnicity, history and traditions, they have been magnified by international involvement in this flash-point which stands at the hinge of Africa and the Middle East. The dangers of international conflict may have been lessened by the ending of the Cold War, but the influence of the USA and the United Nations in their recent attempts at peacekeeping have resulted in further bloodshed, confusion and failure. Woodward is one of the foremost experts on the region and has drawn upon a wide range of material to examine the individual states, their relationships with one another and the international dimensions of the conflicts.