Somalia (10/12)

Somalia. Still today the name conjures up images of the "Blackhawk Down" incident back in 1993. And although thirteen years have now passed, chaos continues to reign in Somalia. Two northern regions, Somaliland and Puntland, have declared their independence, but though both are relatively stable, neither has been recognized by the international community. The rest of the country has not had a stable government since 1991, and that one was a brutal dictatorship!

And the violence has actually intensified in the past few months! The militias of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), feared by some to be "the new Taliban," have pushed other militias loyal to various warlords (some claimed to be supported by the CIA) out of Mogadishu, and are expanding the territory under their control. The U.N. recognized government, the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFI), is based in the southern town of Baidoa, and has little power elsewhere. Talks between the ICU and the TFI, aimed at forming a "government of national unity" have broken down, and it appears that the ICU will eventually take over the entire country. Somalia's neighbors, principally Ethiopia, have become involved, as well.

What does the future hold for Somalia? That will be the subject of this Thursday's IIF discussion. One of our regulars, Jacobus Boers, will serve as moderator.

As usual, I am sending along some background information:

The Congressional testimony of Ted Dagne, the Congressional Research Service's Africa expert, gives a good summary of the situation:

Somalia: Expanding Crisis in the Horn of Africa

Since this is a pdf file, to read it you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded for free; here is the link:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.

Just click on the arrow beside "Choose A Platform" in step one, select your operating system from the drop-down menu, then click on "Download" in step two.

Here is the executive summary of a report from the International Crisis Group, which contains a link to the full report:

Can the Somali Crisis Be Contained?

From The Economist, here are a Backgrounder and a few recent articles on Somalia:

Backgrounder: Somalia

A holy war in the Horn?

The path to ruin

The Osama factor

The rising fear of a war of proxies

Courting trouble

Not the new Taliban, yet

Seeking calm amid the violence

Now for the whole country

Guess who's running it now

A triumph for Africa's Taliban

Flaring again

Here are a few items on Somalia from the Council on Foreign Relations:

Somalia’s High Stakes Power Struggle

Somalia at the Brink

Somalia's Terrorist Infestation

Horn of Terror

Finally, here are several items on Somalia that were sent to me by Jason DeJoannis:

Anarchy and Invention: How Does Somalia's Private Sector Cope without Government?, World Bank
Efforts by C.I.A. Fail in Somalia, Officials Charge, NY Times
Unveiling Somalia's Islamists, BBC
In Somalia, a Boot Camp for Islam, LA Times
Get Ethiopian troops out of Somalia, CS Monitor

Come to Villa this Thursday and find out more about this war-torn area of the world that is likely to have increasing importance in the near future.