Abstract
This chapter examines the interwoven processes of peacemaking and peacebuilding in Somalia over the past two decades. It focuses, in particular, on the experience of the Somali peace process from 2010 to 2013, when the author was the Special Representative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General for Somalia. The chapter highlights the inclusiveness of the peacemaking and peacebuilding activities that followed the withdrawal of al-Shabaab from Mogadishu in 2011, as well as the role of civil society activism—particularly by women—in helping to advance the peace process from the very outset. It also shows that peacemaking and the initial peacebuilding phase in Somalia were not only simultaneous, but also mutually reinforcing processes. In so doing, the chapter makes the case for adopting holistic and comprehensive strategies, which include local and traditional efforts, for sustainable reconciliation, state-building, and peacebuilding in Somalia and other war-torn countries.
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Notes
- 1.
For definitions of peacemaking, peace enforcement, and peacebuilding, see United Nations (UN), Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Department of Field Support, United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: Principles and Guidelines (New York, 2010).
- 2.
On peacebuilding activities in Africa before the existence of the UN Peacebuilding Commission, see Ejeviome E. Otobo, “The UN Peacebuilding Architecture: African Countries as Early Beneficiaries”, in Georg Lennkh and Irene Freudenschuss-Reichl (eds.), Nachbar Afrika: Dimensionenen eines Kontinents (Neighbour Africa: Dimensions of a Continent) (Vienna: Passagen Verlag, 2010).
- 3.
The United States (US) recognised the new Somali federal government in 2013. Relations with the European Union (EU) and Japan have expanded, and more traditional and new partners have re-established diplomatic relations with the new government since 2012.
- 4.
Christopher Clapham, “Peacebuilding Without a State: The Somali Experience”, in Devon Curtis and Gwinyayi A. Dzinesa (eds.), Peacebuilding, Power, and Politics in Africa (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2013), p. 308.
- 5.
UN General Assembly Resolution 60/80 and UN Security Council Resolution 1645, both adopted 20 December 2005.
- 6.
UN General Assembly Resolution 60/80, para. 2(a).
- 7.
UN Security Council Resolution 2093, adopted 6 March 2013.
- 8.
UN Security Council Resolution 2102 (2013), adopted 2 May 2013, authorised the establishment of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) to replace the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), pursuant in particular to its previous Resolution 2093 (2013), adopted 6 March 2013.
- 9.
Curtis, “Introduction: The Contested Politics of Peacebuilding in Africa”, in Curtis and Dzinesa (eds.), Peacebuilding, Power, and Politics in Africa, p. 10.
- 10.
Curtis, “Introduction”, p. 7. See also Susanna Campbell, David Chandler, and Meera Sabaratnam (eds.), A Liberal Peace? The Problems and Practices of Peacebuilding (London and New York: Zed, 2011).
- 11.
Britain is used synonymously with the United Kingdom (UK) in this volume.
- 12.
See Peter Woodward, Crisis in the Horn of Africa: Politics, Piracy, and the Threat of Terror (London: Tauris, 2012).
- 13.
Mark Bradbury, African Issues: Becoming Somaliland (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008).
- 14.
See John L. Hirsch and Robert B. Oakley, Somalia and Operation Restore Hope: Reflections on Peacemaking and Peacekeeping (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 1995), pp. 3–17.
- 15.
UN Security Council Resolution 751, adopted 24 April 1992; Hirsch and Oakley, Somalia and Operation Restore Hope.
- 16.
UN Security Council Resolution 814, adopted 26 March 1993; Kinfe Abraham, Somalia Calling: The Crisis of Statehood, and the Quest for Peace (Addis Ababa: Ethiopia International Institute for Peace and Development, 2002).
- 17.
For details, see Mark Bowden, Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War (New York: Signet, 2001). Since the incident in Somalia, the US has avoided deploying its ground troops, directly or through the UN, in Africa. It has instead trained and financed operations through regional partners and organisations.
- 18.
See Ken Menkhaus, “Governance Without Government in Somalia: Spoilers, State Building and the Politics of Coping”, International Security 31, no. 3 (Winter 2006–2007), pp. 74–106.
- 19.
Rachel Morrow, “Preventing Violent Conflict in Somalia: Traditional and Constitutional Opportunities”, Conflict Trends no. 1 (2014), pp. 11–19.
- 20.
Afyare Abdi Elmi, Understanding the Somalia Conflagration: Identity, Political Islam, and Peacebuilding (London: Pluto Press, 2010), pp. 28–47.
- 21.
Abraham, Somalia Calling, pp. 117–118.
- 22.
For a detailed analysis of the role of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and the rise of al-Shabaab in south-central Somalia, see Stig Jarle Hansen, Al Shabaab in Somalia: The History and Ideology of a Militant Islamic Group, 2005–2012 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).
- 23.
Ken Menkhaus with Hassan Sheikh, Shanne Quinn, and Ibrahim Farah, “Somalia: Civil Society in a Collapsed State”, in Thania Paffenholz (ed.), Civil Society and Peacebuilding: A Critical Assessment (Boulder, CO: Rienner, 2010), p. 323.
- 24.
UN Security Council Resolution 1725, adopted 6 December 2006.
- 25.
The 2008 Djibouti Agreement was facilitated by the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah of Mauritius, and was endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 1814 (2008), adopted 15 May 2008. It also extended the authority of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) from August 2008 to August 2011.
- 26.
UN Security Council Resolution 1744, adopted 20 February 2007.
- 27.
Kenneth J. Menkhaus, “Somalia and Somaliland: Terrorism, Political Islam, and State Collapse”, in Robert I. Rothberg (ed.), Battling Terrorism in the Horn of Africa (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution; and Somerville, MA: World Peace Foundation, 2005), pp. 23–47.
- 28.
Amnesty International, Routinely Targeted: Attacks on Civilians in Somalia (London: Amnesty International, 2008), p. 2.
- 29.
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “Somalia Situation 2017: Supplementary Appeal, January–December 2017”, May 2017, p. 6, http://www.unhcr.org/591ae0e17.pdf (accessed 10 August 2017).
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Mahiga, A. (2018). The Practice of Peacemaking and Peacebuilding in Somalia. In: Karbo, T., Virk, K. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Peacebuilding in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62202-6_20
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