Somalia’s tenuous progress toward stability will only be sustained if the newly elected government steps up delivery of desperately-needed services to its citizens, offering a viable alternative to al-Shabab extremists. Yet six million Somalis are at risk of famine due to drought, and the looming drawdown of the regional peacekeeping force, AMISOM, threatens to derail the country’s fragile transition if the training of Somali forces is not expedited. Former Somali Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Abdirahman Yusuf Ali Aynte (Abdi Aynte) and U.S. Institute of Peace President Nancy Lindborg discussed the challenges and potential solutions in a webcast conversation.

Recovery and development are guided by the New Partnership for Somalia, a compact between donors and the government to encourage reforms and sustained international support for Somalia’s transition from conflict and fragility. The key challenges ahead include establishing efficient and accountable systems for generating and spending revenue, fighting corruption and power sharing. 

In this context, Minister Aynte, the country’s ambassador-designate to the U.K., and Ms. Lindborg discussed how Somalia’s central government can seize on the military gains against al-Shabab to extend its reach beyond Mogadishu and begin responding to citizens’ needs in recently liberated areas. They also spoke about how the international community can help the government address the root causes of the insurgency.

Add your voice to the conversation on Twitter with #USIPSomalia.

Speakers

Nancy Lindborg
President, U.S. Institute of Peace

Abdirahman Yusuf Ali Aynte (Abdi Aynte)
Former Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Government of Somalia; Ambassador Designate to the United Kingdom

Ethiopian soldiers, part of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, escort a convoy of trucks carrying food aid in Baidoa, Somalia, June 10, 2014. In a recent attack in Somalia in early 2016, al-Shabab militants massacred as many as 100 Kenyan soldiers in a peacekeeping mission, seizing their equipment. The attack could mark a turning point for the Shabab, one of Africa’s most violent militant groups. (Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times)
Photo Courtesy of Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times

Related Publications

The Latest @ USIP: How Civil Society is Addressing Haiti’s Crisis

The Latest @ USIP: How Civil Society is Addressing Haiti’s Crisis

Monday, March 25, 2024

By: Dr. Marie-Marcelle Deschamps

In the past few years, life in Haiti has been dominated by gangs’ growing control over huge swathes of the capital, Port-au-Prince. For Haitian families, this crisis has meant extreme violence, pervasive unemployment, lack of education for children and reduced access to health care. 2023 Women Building Peace Award finalist Dr. Marie-Marcelle Deschamps serves as the deputy executive director, the head of the women's health program and the manager of the clinical research unit of GHESKIO Centers in Port-au-Prince. She spoke to USIP about how her work helps women and their families, and what the global community can do to help Haitian civil society address this devastating humanitarian crisis.

Type: Blog

Conflict Analysis & PreventionGender

Myanmar’s Fateful Conscription Law

Myanmar’s Fateful Conscription Law

Monday, February 26, 2024

By: Ye Myo Hein

Earlier this month, Myanmar’s ruling junta enacted a compulsory conscription law that had been dormant since 2010. General Guan Maw, a leader of the Kachin Independence Organization, greeted the junta's decision by comparing it to the 2021 military coup: "If February 1, 2021, was the beginning of the end, the law enforced on February 10, 2024, can be said to mark the end of the end.” As popular reactions to the new conscription plan roll out across the country, General Guan Maw’s pronouncement becomes increasingly prescient.

Type: Analysis

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

Report of the Expert Study Group on NATO and Indo-Pacific Partners

Report of the Expert Study Group on NATO and Indo-Pacific Partners

Monday, February 19, 2024

By: USIP Expert Study Group on NATO and Indo-Pacific Partners

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its four partner countries in the Indo-Pacific—Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and New Zealand—have entered a period of increased engagement. This engagement is taking shape in the context of the war waged by the Russian Federation (Russia) against Ukraine, NATO’s growing awareness of the security challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China (China), and important structural changes in the international system, including the return of strategic competition between the United States and China and Russia. It is occurring not only in bilateral NATO-partner relations but also between NATO and these Indo-Pacific countries as a group.

Type: Report

Conflict Analysis & PreventionCivilian-Military RelationsGlobal PolicyMediation, Negotiation & Dialogue

View All Publications