Somalia Main Actors in Conflict Resolution

[Jacaylbaro]

Multinational

 

United Nations

 

- UNISOM was the first attempt by the United Nations to provide, facilitate, and secure humanitarian relief in Somalia, as well as to monitor the first UN-brokered ceasefire of the Somali Civil War conflict in the early 1990s. However it failed because it could not address the humanitarian crisis do to the overwhelming opposition. The overbearing military force incited rebel forces to attack humanitarian aid stations and civilians.

 

- UNITAF was a transitional program from 5 December 1992 – May 4, 1993 that was designed to strictly develop a stable environment for humanitarian relief to proceed. It was considered to be a success in furthering the security in Somalia for humanitarian aid to proceed with the implementation of UNISOM II

 

- UNISOM II, from March 1993 until March 1995, had the same intentions as UNISOM I, which was to establish a safe environment for humanitarian relief and the commencement of nation-building. However once again the operation met great opposition. During this second phase many nations fought to disarm the warlords in Mogadishu. This failure and the infamous event known as “Black Hawk Down” led to the removal of UNISOM troops in Somalia.

 

- Current Humanitarian Aid – Sporadic outbursts of violence have caused hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes and seek shelter in other parts of the country or flee to neighboring or nearby states. Previous conflict resolutions have failed to address the refugee flow. In recent years tens of thousands have risked their lives by making the dangerous trip of crossing the Gulf of Aden from northern Somalia to Yemen. Hundreds die each year during the voyage (UNHCR 2010). The UN refugee agency and other international humanitarian organizations find it virtually impossible to work in the south-central part of the country, including the capital, Mogadishu, because of the lawlessness and anarchy. Since Somalia began imploding in 1991, more than half-a-million people have fled overseas, putting enormous pressure on neighboring countries, especially Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen. A further 1.4 million people are internally displaced, most of them in the volatile south-central region (UNHCR 2010). The general insecurity, including regular outbreaks of fighting and the murder and abduction of humanitarian workers, has made it more and more difficult for relief agencies to access those in need. As a consequence, the vulnerable are not getting access to adequate water, food, health care, education and shelter.

 

IGAD

 

- (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) Consists of seven African countries in the Horn of Africa. Beginning in the early 2000’s, IGAD assisted in talks that produced Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government in 2004. It urged the African Union in the first week of September 2006 to accelerate approval of the proposed peacekeeping mission to Somalia, release funds and help raise more money to support the deployment of troops. On January 6, 2005 the original plans for the AU to put peacekeepers in Somalia were first agreed by the AU Peace and Security Council. IGAD was mandated to put such a mission, named IGASOM, into practice. In March 2005, IGAD proposed a Peace Support Mission to Somalia involving 10,000 troops, at a cost of $500 million for the first year. Due to many factors, IGASOM did not materialize in 2006.

 

African Union

 

- In January 2009, Ethiopian soldiers withdrew from Somalia, leaving behind an African Union contingent of several thousand troops to help the fragile coalition government and its troops enforce their authority. In September 2006, the African Union approved a smaller force, expected to reach 8,000 troops, at a cost of $335 million for its first year. The mission was now called AMISOM. As of April 2007, only a part of AMISOM has been deployed to war-torn Somalia

 

Important States

 

United States

 

- In December 1992 the outgoing US administration authorized the deployment of US forces to support the beleaguered UN mission in Somalia. Under US leadership, UNOSOM mustered a multinational force of some 30,000 troops. Ostensibly launched for humanitarian reasons, the intervention also responded to the challenge that the collapsed Somali state posed to a supposed ‘new world order’, proclaimed by President George Bush at the end of the Cold War. UNOSOM dominated Somali politics for the next three years. Before long UNOSOM itself became embroiled in the conflict with General Aideed, leading to the infamous shooting down of US Black Hawk helicopters in Mogadishu and the subsequent withdrawal of US forces.

 

- The US has made a second appearance in recent years due to Al-Shabaab’s backing of Al-Qaeda.

 

Ethiopia

 

- Ethiopia had played and interesting roll in the early years of the conflict. In the late 1990’s it policed its borders keeping the refugee flow under control and terrorist camps on the border non-existent.

 

- In June 2006 it helped aid the Transitional Federal Government in regaining control of Mogadishu after it had been taken over by the ICU. It helped oust the ICU from the capital and establish the TFG’s control over a centralized government.

 

- After the ICU was exiled it broke into fractions. The ARS came back in opposition to the TFG. But after the Djibouti Agreement, the TFG and ARS agreed to a cease-fire and a removal of Ethiopian troops. By January of 2009, Ethiopia was out of Somalia.

 

Inter-state

 

Transitional Federal Government/Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia

 

- After the TFG was formed with the aid of Ethiopia and took control over Mogadishu, the faction that was composed of former ICU members, the ARS, returned to oppose the TFG.

 

- Confrontations between the two groups came to halt after the Djibouti Agreements. At this conference the TFG and ARS agreed to a cease-fire and a removal of Ethiopian troops.

 

- This central government broken into three branches; the executive branch is headed by former ARS leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the legislative branch is comprised of the Transitional Federal Parliament, and the final branch is the Judiciary of Somalia.

 

Al-Shabaab

 

- Formed from the militant faction of the ICU

 

- Al-Shabaab felt betrayed when Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed decided to head the TFG. Al-Shabaab since then has declared full opposition towards Ahmed and the central government

 

- The group continues to expand in the southern regions of Somalia. Al-Shabaab has had success in its campaigns against the weak Transitional Federal Government, capturing Baidoa, the base of the Transitional Federal Parliament, in January 26, 2009, and killing three ministers of the government in a December 3, 2009 suicide bomb attack on a medical school graduation ceremony (Mukasa 2009).

 

- The TFG faces the problem of its citizens defecting to the terrorist group out of fear.

 

- Al-Shabazb leaders have claimed affiliation with Al Qaeda since 2007 thus gaining the attention of the global community, especially the US (New York Times 2010).

 

Clans

 

- Clan fighting still occurs but not to the extent at which it did. Many clans have found their affiliated territories and remain within those borders developing their communities

 

- In August 2004, a new Transitional Somali Parliament was inaugurated in Kenya. The 275-member parliament consists of the major political factions and seems to represent all the major clans of Somalia. The Transitional Charter allocated 61 seats for the major four clans and 31 seats for the small clans.

 

Somaliland and Puntland

 

- Between 1992 and 1996 Somaliland experienced two civil wars. Embargoes on imports of Somali livestock by Gulf countries, the return of refugees, urban drift, and contested territorial claims over the eastern regions have presented challenges.

 

- Yet today Somaliland has all the attributes of a sovereign state with an elected government that provides security for its citizens, exercises control over its borders, manages some public assets, levies taxes, issues currency and formulates development policies. This has been achieved through the resourcefulness and resources of people in Somaliland and the Diaspora, with minimal international assistance.

 

- As a non-secessionist state, Puntland epitomizes a ‘building block’ for a future federal Somali state within the 1990 state borders and was duly supported as such by the international community.

 

- Puntland has experienced acute internal divisions and more recently has become internationally known as the home of Somali pirates. However it has remained a relatively stable polity and is in the process of reviewing its constitution and democratizing its political systems.

 

- TFG disapproves of this because it dampens the unification process

 

- Somaliland and Puntland still clash over territories every once and a while

 

- Puntland is home to Somali Pirates and Somaliland is still considered a fragile state