Peacekeepers’
withdrawal from Somalia –
A Somali
Success Story or a new lifeline for Global Terrorism
Public Lecture - RL Vol XI No CCCXIII,
MMXVII
Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, PhD
Professor of Public Policy & Sustainable Institutional Reforms
Abstract
Somalia has
been labelled a failed state since 1991. The persistent threat from Somali
Warlords, Islamic Courts and al Qeada & al-Shabaab had wreaked Somalia
beyond repair. The international community’s response was to institute an active, regional peacekeeping mission. It is
mandated to stabilise Somalia. Under its protection, in 2012, Somalia
had its first presidential election since 1967. This year Parliament elected
former PM Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, as president. The
paper discusses the challenges posed by al-Shabaab,
led mostly by foreign extremists that impose a foreign ideology brutally on the
Somali people. It is the main threat to peace that AMISOM is fighting; in what
has become al-Shabaab’s raison d’être. The presence
of foreign troops has allowed it to flourish with its despotic pious decrees.
Without a battle against peacekeepers to unite it, al-Shabaab would likely
splinter into nationalist factions.
The move to increase martial power to AMISOM must resist
the temptation to allow history to repeat itself. Instead, the leadership
should negotiate with the moderate elements of the protagonists. The
recommendations augur on a Strategy of Constructive
Disengagement for international community, premises of
Alternative Conflict Management (ACM) whose approaches derive from several
factors that shape conflict management articulation of process and strategy - openness,
political agency and ideology and identifying the root causes of the
conflict. It argues for developing a culture of and constituency for peace in
Somalia, building bridges between peoples, religious factions and the state and
healing the wounds of war and displacement. In the end, we have seen how
disastrous it is to rely exclusively on martial action to stabilise nations.
The Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen military intervention has only produced mayhem
on the local populace killing more than a million citizens and displacing half
of their populations. Dialogue for peace with all
stakeholders will finally prove that Somalia’s sheer un-governability is both
its curse and its blessing.
Key words: Somalia, AMISOM, al-Shabaab, Alternative Conflict Management
See Lecture
here or https://www.academia.edu/35444430/Peacekeepers_withdrawal_from_Somalia_-_A_Somali_Success_Story_or_a_new_lifeline_for_Global_Terrorism_RL_Vol_XI_No_CCCXIII_MMXVII
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