The Genesis Of The Civil War In Somalia

This study explores the genesis of the civil war in Somalia by analysing the defeat of Somalia in the 1977 Ogaden war, asserting that this defeat, which was prompted by the intervention of the USSR, was a turning point which unleashed long term socio-political forces that led to the collapse of the central government of the country. Muuse Yuusuf analyses the history of the Somali civil war, from 1977 to the present, and the role played by various actors in the conflict such as local clans, warlords and foreign powers, and examines the present day by-products of the war, such as religious extremism. Crucially, Yuusuf looks beyond the mainstream explanation for the conflict – that of rival clans fighting over resources. By recognising the impact of foreign military interventions in Somalia, from superpower rivalry during the cold war to the war-on-terror, on the initiation and perpetuation of the Somali conflict, the book attempts to identify foreign military intervention as a new paradigm in the discourse around it.

A historical analysis of Pre-Civil War Somalia. Examines how Somalia became an independent nation, how its political structure was organized, and leaders of the new country.

Fighting for Peace in Somalia provides the first comprehensive analysis of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), an operation deployed in 2007 to stabilize the country and defend its fledgling government from one of the world's deadliest militant organizations, Harakat al-Shabaab. The book's two parts provide a history of the mission from its genesis in an earlier, failed regional initiative in 2005 up to mid-2017, as well as an analysis of the mission's six most challenges, namely, logistics, security sector reform, civilian protection, strategic communications, stabilization, and developing a successful exit strategy. These issues are all central to the broader debates about how to design effective peace operations in Africa and beyond. AMISOM was remarkable in several respects: it would become the African Union's (AU) largest peace operation by a considerable margin deploying over 22,000 soldiers; it became the longest running mission under AU command and control, outlasting the nearest contender by over seven years; it also became the AU's most expensive operation, at its peak costing approximately US$1 billion per year; and, sadly, AMISOM became the AU's deadliest mission. Although often referred to as a peacekeeping operation, AMISOM's troops were given a range of daunting tasks that went well beyond the realm of peacekeeping, including VIP protection, war-fighting, counterinsurgency, stabilization, and state-building as well as supporting electoral processes and facilitating humanitarian assistance. Tana Forum Annual Book Launch 2019 Winner.

This study examines the American military's experience with urban operations in Somalia, particularly in the capital city of Mogadishu. That original focus can be found in the following pages, but the authors address other, broader issues as well, to include planning for a multinational intervention; workable and unworkable command and control arrangements; the advantages and problems inherent in coalition operations; the need for cultural awareness in a clan-based society whose status as a nation-state is problematic; the continuous adjustments required by a dynamic, often unpredictable situation; the political dimension of military activities at the operational and tactical levels; and the ability to match military power and capabilities to the mission at hand.

Oil, diamonds, timber, food aid - just some of the suggestions put forward as explanations for African wars in the past decade. Another set of suggestions focuses on ethnic and clan considerations. These economic and ethnic or clan explanations contend that wars are specifically not fought by states for political interests with mainly conventional military means, as originally suggested by Carl von Clausewitz in the 19th century. This study shows how alternative social organizations to the state can be viewed as political actors using war as a political instrument.

An analysis of internal dynamics of the Somali conflict and the relation between state and society, taking society and not the state as main reference point. Includes a discussion of UN / UNHCRs involvement in assistance to refugees in the special Somali situation of statelessness.

In this introduction to Somalia and the Somali people, the authors examine the important events, themes & influences of the past in order to explain the complexities of the politics, society, culture, & economy of contemporary Somalia.