A Horn of Africa seminar, "Seeking Whole of Region Solutions to Transnational Threats," opened May 28, 2011 with more than 80 participants and speakers from the Arab League, U.S. Central Command, U.S. Africa Command, and representatives from more than a dozen countries in Africa and the Persian Gulf.

James A. Larocco, director of Near East South Asia (NESA) Center for Strategic Studies, gave a welcome address in which he discussed the increasing strategic importance of the Indian Ocean region in terms of commerce and competition among increasingly influential countries on its periphery.

The first day of the four-day conference addressed the issues of water, food, and security; regional dynamics; and instability in the region.

A panel, chaired by Dr. John Duke Anthony, president and CEO of the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, focused on seeking transnational solutions to transnational threats in the Horn of Africa region. Also included on the panel were Ambassador Dr. Mahmoud Farghal, director of training programs at the Cairo Regional Center for Training on Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping in Africa, and Fred Lubega, director of intelligence analysis and counterterrorism operations at the Internal Security Organization of Uganda's Ministry of Security.

Speaking at a working luncheon, Dr. Reuben E. Brigety II, deputy assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, described the plight of refugees in the Horn of Africa region and proposed some possible solutions, followed by a question-and-answer session.

NESA Professor Dan Curfiss moderated a discussion of lessons learned and possible solutions to the transnational threats facing the Horn of Africa region. Participants contributed the ideas that were compiled into a list of international steps to finding solutions to regional threats.

The seminar included representatives from U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Central Command, the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, and the countries of Burundi, Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya, Oman, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey and Yemen.

The Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies hosted the "Horn of Africa Destabilizing Factors and Transnational Threat Seminar" in partnership with the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the Cairo Center for Training on Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping in Africa, and the Regional Defense Combating Terrorism Fellowship Program.