Governance, conflict and the United Nations interventions in Somalia

Abstract

Somalia has seen a rise of various fundamentalist groups who have engaged in terrorism and numerous wars crimes and human rights violations in the territory they control with relative impunity. It became imperative for the international community and the United Nations to intervene in limiting the massive humanitarian crisis. The United States carried out several strikes targeting Islamic terrorists in Somalia. The purpose of this paper was to provide a brief overview of governance and conflicts in Somalia and its role in facilitating the rise of various terrorist organizations in the country and the region. In this context, this paper has explored and compared the number of aerial strikes in Somalia under the last three years of President Barack Obama’s presidency (2014-2016) and the first three years of President Donald Trump’s presidency (2017-2019). The economy of Somalia is recovering slowly and it is improving the lives of people in areas controlled by the Somali Government (BBC News, 2017). President Donald Trump has reduced restrictions on aerial strikes. His policy has led to a significant increase in the number of strikes and casualties. It is yet to be seen if this policy can reduce extremism and terrorism in Somalia. It will also be difficult for the national government to hold a national election given that parts of the country are still controlled by militias and the autonomous territories like Somaliland and Puntland are not likely to cooperate.