Somalia Archives - Page 6 of 15 - Foreign Policy In Focus

A Bumpy Road for the Somali Roadmap

by Abdinur Mohamud | Jan 20, 2012

Progress on the political roadmap to move Somalia out of conflict and toward stable, permanent, and representative government by August 2012 seems to be facing intractable barricades. The roadmap calls for the adoption of a new constitution by July, with parliamentary elections to take place in August of this year. With less than six months remaining and al-Shabab forces controlling much of the country, the likelihood of constituting a representative constituent assembly, finalizing a draft constitution, and conducting a national referendum is unrealistic if not impossible.

The Balkanization of Somalia

by Abdinur Mohamud | Sep 26, 2011

Political instability within Somalia and the actions of the international community are closely connected. By supporting regional actors inside Somalia, instead of supporting the federal government, the international community is contributing to the centrifugal forces that keep the country weak, violent, and in a prolonged humanitarian crisis.

Women’s Exclusion Worsens Somali Crises

by Khadija O. Ali | Aug 4, 2011

On July 22, 2011 the newly appointed Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, a Harvard-trained professor of economics, announced his 49-member cabinet. There are only two women in it: one minister and one vice minister. Yet, Somali women and children are the primary victims of ongoing conflict and deepening drought and famine in Somalia. According to UNICEF, a child dies every six minutes in the areas hard hit by drought in the Horn of Africa. In addition, all international studies show that women and children are the most vulnerable groups in societies under stress.

The S Word

by John Feffer | Feb 8, 2011

A nation is like a marriage, or so Lenin imagined it to be, with each partner or province having a right to get out if things go horribly wrong. The Soviet constitution of 1918 provided this right to each of the republics. It wasn’t an innovation that many other countries followed. And yet, constitutional provisions or not, the S word – secession – has occasionally brought nations to the brink of dissolution.

Puntland Splits

by Hussein Yusuf | Feb 8, 2011

Puntland, an autonomous state in northeast Somalia with a population of three million, has declared that it is no longer interested in working with the current Somali government. Puntland’s decision stems from the hesitation of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu to embrace a draft constitution supported by the international community that would allow Somalis to form regional states within a federal structure. TFG President Sharif Ahmed’s supporters in Mogadishu and in the diaspora have lobbied hard against federalism, which they believe will lead to the balkanization of Somalia.

WikiLeaks Reveals U.S. Twisted Ethiopia’s Arm to Invade Somalia

by Rob Prince | Dec 8, 2010

Even though Washington claims to have counseled Ethiopia not to use military force against Somalia.

An Open Letter to President Obama, Or Change I believed in

by Mike Lally | Nov 12, 2010

Dear President Obama,

You’re not the man I thought you were.

Most progressives have no problem finding flaws with your first years as President to criticize you about, whether it’s the whittling down of the healthcare bill, decision to ramp up military operations in Afghanistan, failure to close Guantanamo, or deal effectively with Climate Change at Copenhagen.

For me however, it is the moments in which you have an opportunity to make a clear decision, with profound moral implications, and yet choose to act in a way that makes me ashamed to call you my President…

What to Do About Somalia

by John Goekler | Jul 19, 2010

Just as America’s fear of communism stampeded it to make disastrous decisions, its fear of Islam drives its self-defeating policy toward Somalia.

Piracy Redux

by Francis Njubi Nesbitt | Feb 18, 2010

Over a year after the scourge of piracy escalated in the Gulf of Aden, the world is still mired in misguided and misdirected militarist policies. Meanwhile, millions of Somalis are caught in desperate circumstances. One-third of the country is on the run. Thousands choose to make the horrendous trek to Kenya where they face relatively safe, yet empty lives in refugee camps. At the African Union summit last month, diplomats lamented that even though Somalia was a major security threat, it didn’t get anywhere near the attention that Afghanistan received.

Obama to Africa: Tough Love or Tough Luck?

by Mukoma Wa Ngugi, Emira Woods | Jul 22, 2009

Africans are wading knee-deep in world financial institutions and leaders advising "good governance," "transparency," "accountability," and the ever-elusive "democracy." We did not need to hear these catchphrases that laced Obama’s Ghana speech. They are so benign that even Africa’s dictators, such as Kenya’s former dictator Daniel Arap Moi, promised them with each stolen election.