Hot Spot Briefing: Rising Tensions in Northeast Africa

On Tuesday, September 24, the Clements Center for National Security and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law hosted Ambassador Larry André and Sarah Harrison to discuss “Rising Tensions in Northeast Africa.” Millenia old hydrology worries, centuries old national rivalries, and a decades old secessionist movement converge to generate rising tensions in Northeast Africa. Hear from Sarah Harrison of the International Crisis Group and Ambassador Larry André on the potential conflict involving Egypt, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Somalia’s secessionist state of Somaliland. This discussion was moderated by Professor Stephen Slick, Director of the Intelligence Studies Project. The event was at 12:15 pm in SRH 3.122, The LBJ School of Public Affairs.

Ambassador (ret.) Larry E. André, Jr., Professor of Practice at the LBJ School of Public Affairs,  retired from the State Department’s Senior Foreign Service in May 2023 after a 38-year career in global public affairs. During his 33 years at the U.S. State Department, he served in a mix of leadership, policy, and management positions. Ambassador André’s leadership positions included Ambassador to Somalia, Ambassador to Djibouti, and Ambassador to Mauritania. He also served as Chargé d’affaires, U.S. Embassy South Sudan; Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy Tanzania; Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy Sierra Leone; Director, Office of the Presidential Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, and Deputy Director, Office of West African Affairs. Ambassador André’s management positions included Deputy Director, African Affairs Executive Office; Management Officer, U.S. Embassy Guinea; Administrative Officer, U.S. Consulate Kaduna (northern Nigeria); Deputy Management Counselor, U.S. Embassy Iraq; and Supervisory General Services Officer, U.S. Embassy Bangladesh.

Prior to joining the State Department’s Foreign Service, Ambassador André worked in Chad for USAID as an institutional contractor assisting refugees returning home following the war with Libya. Before that, he served both as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal and as Peace Corps staff in Washington, DC. As an undergraduate, he was a researcher at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government in Claremont, California. 

Sarah Harrison is a Senior Analyst at Crisis Group. Before starting at Crisis Group, Sarah served for more than four years as Associate General Counsel at the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Office of General Counsel (OGC), International Affairs, where she advised on domestic and international legal issues related to U.S. national security and the activities of the U.S. armed forces. Sarah was the lead OGC attorney for the planning and conduct of DoD activities on the continent of Africa and was counsel to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs. From 2020 to 2021, Sarah taught international law as an adjunct professor for the Georgetown University Law Center. From 2015 to 2017, Sarah served as Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security.

View more photos from the event here.