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Interview
Disengaging From Somalia
Instead of fighting jihad in Somalia by supporting the weak transitional government, the United States would have more success focusing on humanitarian aid and development, says democracy and governance expert Bronwyn Bruton.
March 10, 2010
Backgrounder
Terrorism Havens: Somalia
June 7, 2010
Council Special Report
Somalia
Failed states provide fertile ground for terrorism, drug trafficking, and a host of other ills that threaten to spill beyond their borders. Somalia is thus a problem not just for Somalis but for the United States and the world. Bronwyn E. Bruton takes on one of today's most vexing foreign policy challenges, offering concise analysis and thoughtful recommendations grounded in a realistic assessment of U.S. and international interests and capabilities in Somalia.
March 1, 2010
Essential Documents
Ambassador Carson's Speech on U.S. Policy in Somalia, March 2010
Speech
March 12, 2010
News Release
United States Should Pursue New Approach to Somalia, Argues CFR Report
March 10, 2010
Analysis Brief
Morass in Somalia Deepens
Ethiopian troops appear to have won a military victory over Somalia's Islamic Courts militias, who fled Mogadishu Thursday. Their exit leaves a power vacuum in Somalia, and the United States’ focus on counterterrorism in the Horn of Africa may hinder its ability to defuse the crisis.
December 27, 2006
Analysis Brief
Somalia Exporting Discord?
A new UN report details a complex and troubling exchange that allegedly provided weapons to Somalia’s Islamist power brokers in exchange for dispatching Islamist commandos to Hezbollah and opening Somali uranium mines to Iran.
November 16, 2006
Analysis Brief
U.S. Strikes Somalia
A U.S. air strike in Somalia may mark the return of a robust U.S. military presence in the Horn of Africa. Though aimed at al-Qaeda operatives within Somalia, the U.S. action could reverberate throughout the region.
January 9, 2007
Analysis Brief
Somalia at the Crossroads
Despite the ouster of the Islamist militia last month, stability in Somalia remains elusive. Its leaders must decide whether to reconcile or return to warlordism.
January 23, 2007
Analysis Brief
Somalia at the Brink
With Islamic courts firmly in control of Somalia's capital, experts worry that a new Taliban may be emerging in the Horn of Africa.
August 7, 2006
Interview
Lyons: Ethiopia-Eritrea Conflict Fueling Somalia Crisis
Terrence Lyons, an expert on the Horn of Africa, says despite U.S. concerns about al-Qaeda, it is local rivalries driving conflicts in Somalia and elsewhere in the region.
August 22, 2007
Podcast
Lyons: Implications of Somalia Conflict for the Horn of Africa
Terrence Lyons, associate professor at George Mason University and an expert on conflict resolution, discusses the conflict in Somalia and its implications for the Horn of Africa.
January 3, 2007
Interview
The United States Should Avoid 'Grand Schemes' in Somalia
CFR's Bronwyn Bruton says the United States will not be able to end piracy in Somalia by using force and should take a modest approach that avoids grand schemes to reconstruct the government.
April 14, 2009
Analysis Brief
Somalia's Perpetual War
As the humanitarian crisis in Somalia deepens, experts see bleak prospects for reconciliation talks between the transitional government and the Islamist opposition.
May 9, 2008
Interview
The Capital Interview: Envoy Seeks Support for Ethiopia, Aid for Somal...
Ethiopia’s U.S. ambassador says his government needs more international help in securing Somalia and is wrongly blamed by Congress for rights abuses.
November 20, 2007
Op-Ed
Bombing Somalia is a Dud
Micah Zenko argues that given the ineffectiveness of recent U.S. operations in Somalia, airstrikes against Somali pirates would be militarily and politically unsuccessful.
April 23, 2009
Podcast
The United States Should Avoid "Grand Schemes" in Somalia
CFR's Bronwyn Bruton says the United States should avoid grand schemes in its attempts to fight piracy in Somalia.
April 13, 2009
Analysis Brief
Somalia Slipping Away
Despite international intervention to protect Somalia’s fledgling government, fighting persists while the humanitarian situation deteriorates. Regional stability is at risk once again.
May 29, 2007
Other Report
Somalia's Future
This report is a collaborative effort drawn up in a response to a request from Congress to examine the situation in Somalia, namely options for diplomacy.
March 29, 2007
Podcast
The Road Ahead: Violence and Reconciliation in Somalia
Idd Beddel Mohammed, Somalia's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations and Abdi Samatar, a Somali scholar at the University of Minnesota, discuss recent violence in Somalia and options for reconciliation.
April 27, 2007
Must Read
The Enough Project: Somalia after the Ethiopian Occupation: First Step...
Ken Menkhaus says the new U.S. national security team must implement a long-term strategy in Somalia.
February 9, 2009
Must Read
Chatham House: Piracy in Somalia: Threatening Global Trade, Feeding Lo...
This is a brief on the piracy issue in Somalia.
October 29, 2008
Must Read
CRS Report: Somalia
A Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress (PDF)entitled "Somalia: Current Conditions and Prospects for a Lasting Peace."
March 12, 2007
Foreign Affairs Article
In the Quicksands of Somalia
Washington's repeated attempts to bring peace to Somalia with state-building initiatives have failed, even backfired.
November 10, 2009
Foreign Affairs Article
Somalia and the Future of Humanitarian Intervention
The intervention in Somalia was not an abject failure; an estimated 100,000 lives were saved. But its mismanagement should be an object lesson for peacekeepers in Bosnia and on other such missions. No large intervention, military or humanitarian, can remain neutral or assuredly brief in a strife-torn failed state. Nation-building, the rebuilding of a state's basic civil institutions, is required in fashioning a self-sustaining body politic out of anarchy. In the future, the United States, the United Nations, and other intervenors should be able to declare a state "bankrupt" and go in to restore civic order and foster reconciliation.
March 1, 1998
Foreign Affairs Article
The Lessons of Somalia: Not Everything Went Wrong
The mistakes of the U.S. intervention in Somalia should not obscure its successes: a humanitarian tragedy was averted, and the political landscape was improved.
March 1, 1995
Essential Documents
Somalia's Clan Families
A CIA map shows the areas occupied by Somalia's clans and subclans.
March 1, 2002
Essential Documents
UN Security Council Resolution 733, Somalia
Resolution
January 23, 1992
Transcript
Somalia's Second Chance: [Rush Transcript; Federal News Service]
Terence Lyons, Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, and Vicki Huddleston, Former Charge D'Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia, discuss the potential for Somalia to successfully establish a viable government.
February 23, 2007
Op-Ed
Somalia's Lesson-Don't Always Trust the Locals
January 24, 2007
News Release
Ethiopia-Eritrea Proxy War in Somalia Risks Broader Regional Conflict,...
Conflict in the Horn of Africa is escalating rapidly as power struggles within Somalia are exacerbated by military support that both Ethiopia and Eritrea give to the opposing parties there. Ethiopia backs the weak interim government; Eritrea sponsors the Islamic militants fighting to overthrow it. Because the United States has accused Somalia of harboring al-Qaeda suspects, “the Ethiopian-Eritrean proxy conflict increases the opportunities for terrorist infiltration of the Horn and East Africa and for ignition of a larger regional conflict,” warns a new Council Special Report.
December 14, 2006
Interview
The Capital Interview: Frazer Says Kenyan Crisis Has Consequences for ...
Jendayi Frazer, the top U.S. official in charge of African affairs, says Kenya’s crisis could have serious consequences for peace plans in Somalia and Sudan.
January 18, 2008
Backgrounder
Somalia's Terrorist Infestation
The United States lists Somalia as a haven for terrorists, and indeed, evidence suggests terrorists are using the fractured state as an operational hub. Yet Somalia's current links to terrorism are tiny in comparison to the potential problem the country poses.
May 26, 2006
Audio
Academic Conference Call: The Challenge of Somalia (Audio)
Listen to Bronwyn E. Bruton, international affairs fellow in residence at CFR, discuss her recent Foreign Affairs article, "In the Quicksands of Somalia," with students as part of CFR's Academic Conference Call series.
November 5, 2009
Essential Documents
UN Security Council Resolution 1851 (Somalia)
Resolution
December 16, 2008
Online Debate
What Role Should the U.S. Play in Somalia?
A pair of Somalia experts, Terrence Lyons and Sadia Ali Aden, discuss U.S. policy options for the war-torn nation on Africa's Horn.
May 21, 2007
Audio
Somalia's Second Chance? (Audio)
Listen to Vicki Huddleston, former charge d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Ethiopia, and Terrence Lyons, associate professor of conflict resolution at George Mason University, discuss the potential for Somalia to successfully establish a viable government.
February 22, 2007
Backgrounder
Somalia's Transitional Government
Though international observers had hoped Somalia's transitional federal government would bring stability to the war-torn nation after sixteen years of "failed state" status, by mid-2008 experts said it was fraught by internal divisions.
May 12, 2008
Backgrounder
Somalia's High Stakes Power Struggle
A group of Islamist courts have seized power across much of Somalia. Many outside observers are anxiously watching—and interfering—as the power struggle plays out between the Islamists and the official government.
August 7, 2006
Op-Ed
Somalia: Finishing an old job while fighting new terrorism
January 20, 2002
Op-Ed
Somalia: Terrorists' Next Stop?
January 7, 2002
Article
Self Induced Stalemate in Somalia: An Assessment of U.S. Policy Option...
Bronwyn Bruton considers U.S. - Somalian relations with the world's status quo.
November 12, 2008
Essential Documents
Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia pursuant to Security Council...
Report
November 1, 2006
Must Read
Better Off Stateless: Somalia Before and After Government Collapse
Peter Leeson, an economist at the University of West Virginia, argues in this paper that Somalis are better off under anarchy than they were under government.
Backgrounder
Al-Shabaab
A profile of the Islamist militant organization based in southern Somalia.
July 28, 2010
Op-Ed
Bring Back the Kitchen Mamas
Isobel Coleman argues that local women can play a role in mitigating the corruption that surrounds humanitarian aid in Somalia.
March 17, 2010
Analysis Brief
Proxy War in Africa's Horn
A long-simmering Ethiopia-Eritrea border conflict threatens the entire Horn of Africa, as troop deployments and other actions by the two rivals continue to fuel Somalia’s internal power struggle.
December 14, 2006
Analysis Brief
Somali Strife Imperils Africa's Horn
The conflict between Somalia’s weak interim government and an increasingly powerful Islamist faction simmered all summer. But Ethiopia’s military incursion into the shattered country has raised the stakes.
October 17, 2006
Analysis Brief
Horn of Terror
For over a decade Somalia has been a fractured state providing refuge for international terrorists. Intense fighting on the streets of Mogadishu in recent weeks has renewed fears that Somalia could pose an even greater regional threat.
May 26, 2006