Somali Conflicts
• Modern Somalia- “lawless
state”?
• Traditional conflict management
– Culture of confrontation  godob
(revenge for cumulative
grievances)
– Council of elders (xeer) with
powers of expulsion, holy men
– Diya – blood money
– Intermarriage between clans
– Qat chewing
– Poetry – expressing clan positions
Somali Conflicts 2
• Colonialism: British/Italian
– Partitioning of Somali people
– Issues of land ownership,
productivity  disruption
– Colonial military/bureaucratic
elite
– Imposition of colonial law
• Independence = 1960
– Lack of gov’t diversity
– Push for “development” –
export crops
– State-controlled military to
replace xeer
– Control of national resources
Somali Conflicts 3
• General Siad Barre regime
(1969-91)
– Personal power, clan
exclusion
– “modernization”
– Cold War politics of arms and
aid
– 1991 coup
• Outside involvement
– United Nations
– U.S./U.S.S.R
– Ethiopia
– “New World Order”
New World Order
• collapse of USSR end of Cold
war  “New World Order”
• one size fits all model of state
• “rule of law” replaces other
authorities
• international congregation of
states, United Nations to “police”
• collective security vs.
peacekeeping
Somali Conflicts 4
• 1994-2006: Warlords,
Moneylords
• 1994: Transitional Federal
Government (TFG), led by
Abdullah Yusuf
• Businessmen support clan militia
leaders (NOT traditional elders)
• For U.S., issue of terrorism,
Somalis involvement in Kenya
and Tanzania bombings
• Union of Islamist Courts (UIC)
– take over Mogadishu, 2005
– establish order, some peace
Somali Conflicts 5
• Dec, 2006: Ethiopia invades,
with U.S. backing
• growing Islamist insurgency
• at present: Drought,
displacement, looming
famine, ongoing piracy
• need for “security,
reconciliation, capacity”
• power sharing instead of a
“victor’s peace”