The country of Somalia is a very young country that has not able to gain enough stability to prosper. Somalia was created in 1960 by merging the Italian Somaliland and the British Somaliland. It quickly became a socialist state in 1970 with Major General Barre in power. The overthrow of President Barre in 1991 by rebel forces started the civil war still going on today. Many regional governments have been established but they do not help the stability of the country. The UN had some involvement in Somalia through military action and food aid in the 1990’s but they had little success. After over 20 years of unsuccessful national governments, an internationally supported government known as the Transitional Federal Government was established in 2012. This did not end the problems occurring in Somalia. Because of the amount of groups fighting against each other including the Transitional Federal Government, Ethiopian National Defense Forces, insurgents specifically the al-Shabaab, civilians are put in the center of the war. According to nongovernmental organization, Human Rights Watch, all three of these groups are involved in the human rights violations occurring. Many times civilians are caught in cross fire between the government and insurgent forces. The lack of access to medical care means that an injury will most likely result in death. The insurgents also target children to recruit them into their militia or force them into marriages. Over 1,000,000 Somalians have been displaced from their homes to flee the violence in recent years. A majority of these Somalians are from Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital. If a Somalian can successfully escape the violence most likely after having to endure sexual abuses, beatings, and lootings, the humanitarian agencies face many challenges in helping them besides the large amount of people. Al-Shabaab creates blockades so supplies and assistance cannot get to the people in camps. There has also many attacks and killings on the doctors and personal working in the camps. Currently, the UN supports the African Union Mission in Somalia as a way to provide support to Somalia. It is currently looking to expand this involvement and the area the African Union Mission in Somalia covers but no definite plans have been made for how to solve the human rights violations in Somalia.
The ongoing Somali Civil War connects with a couple of critical issues we have already discussed in other current events presentations. In a similar manner to how the violence between insurgent groups such as ISIS in the Middle East have been fighting the government of Syria and Iraq, groups in Somalia such as al-Shabab fighting with the Traditional Federal Government had caused an influx of people leaving the country. That fact that over two million Somalis have been displaced once again raises the question of how we accommodate the needs of the refugees. We are able to see similar themes in refugee camps for Somali displaced peoples compared to the ones for Syrian war refugees, including their access to water, food, shelter, medical attention, and education. Some camps are even forced to shut down due to the efforts of al-Shabab to cut off humanitarian aid from the UN and global humanitarian agencies, similar to how certain Syrian refugee camps are targeted by radical groups such as Hezbollah. Connecting the story to Persepolis, there is a worrying tendency for both sides to use child soldiers as a means to fuel their war effort, although the situation is not an international conflict but instead a matter of civil war. Al-Shabab controlled areas can force boys at the age of nine to take up arms and fight against the TFG, under the ideology that they will be martyrs for the cause. Girls are also forced to support the war effort under al-Shabab’s sharia law, which requires them to marry members of the group and manage their homes as faithful wives, while all other options for girls such as pursuing university level education is cut off. The TFG of Somalia is also responsible for the severity of the child soldier problem in Somalia, since they have been documented recruiting their own children and killing those of al-Shabab’s.
How should the UN and international forces intervene in
Somalia to be effective?
Is it possible to restore Somalia as a united nation, or is a multi-state solution the only way for Somalia to see the return of peace?
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