scholarly journals Realizing the Horn of Africa in a New Context: Challenges and Opportunities for Peace in Somalia

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 156-162
Author(s):  
Liban Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Period ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
Economic Stability ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Domestic Instability ◽  
Radical Organizations ◽  
The Military

In 1991 growing political pressure and infighting led to the collapse of the Somalia government. Key institutions of governance disintegrated, and public services could no longer be provided. The Somali National Army was amongst the key institutions that collapsed and, in its place, warlords and clan militias emerged to fill the gap. Henceforth for over two decades, these non-state actors competed over control of both political and economic power while other radical organizations such as Al-Shaabab emerged with an objective to establish an Islamic state. This instability thus led to displacement of populations, insecurity both at the domestic and regional level. This thesis seeks to examine how the collapse of Somali impacted the military and why moving forward in the transitional period, reforming the military is vital to the future of Somalia and geopolitical and economic stability. The thesis adopts state building and realism as it theoretical frameworks and argues for the need of military reforms within the conceptual frameworks of security reforms. Specifically, the thesis reiterated that if the Horn of Africa and the greater Eastern Africa region is to experience geopolitical and economic stability, then the SNA should undertake key reforms in order to reinforce its capacity to resolve domestic instability in Somalia which is the causal factor in geopolitical and economic instability caused by threats such as terrorism, piracy, and bilateral tensions between regional states. The study suggests that reforms in the military such institutional capacity building, coordination of security assistance, and establishing civilian oversight over military is critical in reviving the capacity of SNA and with it, the first step towards restoring regional stability.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Challenges and Opportunities of the Use of Military Diplomacy in Intrastate Conflict Management in the Horn of Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (03) ◽  
pp. 606-625
Author(s):  
Charles Okongo Imbiakha ◽  
Pontian Godfrey Okoth ◽  
Edmond Maloba Were
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Conflict Management ◽  
African Union ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
Intrastate Conflict ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
Intrastate Conflicts ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Military ◽  
Military Diplomacy

Military diplomacy is increasingly relied on in the management of intra state conflicts globally. Far more common and controversial is the issue of combat troops to help end fighting in an intractable conflict. The Horn of Africa is an epitome of intractable regional intrastate conflicts   that have attracted international, regional and even individual state military and humanitarian intervention since the 1970s. The Somalia and Sudan crises provide typical examples in which such efforts have been witnessed yet they also provide a case study of successful military diplomacy by African states in states engaged in protracted intra-state conflicts. This study was conceived to evaluate the challenges and opportunities of the use of military diplomacy in intrastate conflict management in the Horn of Africa. The study was located in the rational logic theory. It was carried out among peace groups and individuals who had participated in peace processes in the Horn of Africa. These were located in Mogadishu and Kismayu, Khartoum and Juba and embassies in Kenya that represent the Horn of Africa countries. Security personnel who have had a role in the Horn of Africa peace processes at African Union (AU), Inter - Governmental Authority on Development  (IGAD), East Africa Standby Force (EASF), United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), United Nations Africa (Union) Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and African (Union) Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) were key informants. The study used purposive sampling and snowballing to determine the sample size. Data was collected using interview schedules and questionnaires which were analyzed using Concurrent Nested (Embedded) Design. Secondary data were gathered and reviewed from Journals, books and published proceedings that corroborated the primary data. The findings indicate that the obscurity of the military and the rubric in the understanding of military diplomacy poses a challenge for the military to influence intrastate conflicts in the Horn of Africa. This is compounded by other challenges including the Cold War mentality that has made the region to witness a series of foreign activities leading to militarization of the Horn of Africa with establishment of military bases in the Horn of Africa. Peace support operations are expensive to manage yet the missions undertaken in the Horn of Africa lack sustainable source of funds and instead over rely on foreign funding and goodwill. With no sufficient funds, buying equipment and paying the staff becomes a big challenge. Emerging threats and clan dynamics are actualities that the use of military diplomacy was found to face as a challenge. To change these challenges into opportunities requires rational logic from all stakeholders in the conflict management process

Problems of military-political interaction between the countries of the West and Central Asia at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-33
Author(s):  
Boris G. Koybaev
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Bases ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The West ◽  
Regional Environment ◽  
Western Influence ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Political Interaction ◽  
The Military

Central Asia in recent history is a vast region with five Muslim States-new actors in modern international relations. The countries of Central Asia, having become sovereign States, at the turn of the XX–XXI centuries are trying to peaceful interaction not only with their underdeveloped neighbors, but also with the far-off prosperous West. At the same time, the United States and Western European countries, in their centrosilic ambitions, seek to increase their military and political presence in Central Asia and use the military bases of the region’s States as a springboard for supplying their troops during anti-terrorist and other operations. With the active support of the West, the Central Asian States were accepted as members of the United Nations. For monitoring and exerting diplomatic influence on the regional environment, the administration of the President of the Russian Federation H. W. Bush established U.S. embassies in all Central Asian States. Turkey, a NATO member and secular Islamic state, was used as a lever of indirect Western influence over Central Asian governments, and its model of successful development was presented as an example to follow.

Historical Account or Discourse on Identity? A Reexamination of Fulbe Hegemony and Autochthonous Submission in Banyo

1998 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 93-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin Gausset
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Local Populations ◽  
Northern Cameroon ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Military

Traditional accounts of the nineteenth-century Fulbe conquest in northern Cameroon tell roughly the same story: following the example of Usman Dan Fodio in Nigeria, the Fulbe of Cameroon organized in the beginning of the nineteenth century a “jihad” or a “holy war” against the local pagan populations to convert them to Islam and create an Islamic state. The divisions among the local populations and the military superiority of the Fulbe allowed them to conquer almost all northern Cameroon. They forced those who submitted to give an annual tribute of goods and servants, and they raided the other groups. In these traditional accounts the Fulbe are presented as unchallenged masters, while the local populations are depicted as slaves who were powerless over their fate; their role in the conquest of the region and in the administration of the new political order is supposed to have been insignificant.I will show that, on the contrary, in the area of Banyo the Wawa and Bute played a crucial role in the conquest of the sultanate and in its administration. I will then re-examine the cliche that all members of the local populations were the slaves of the Fulbe by distinguishing the fate of the Wawa and Bute on one side from that of the Kwanja and Mambila on the other, and by showing the importance of the Fulbe's identity in shaping the definition of slavery. Finally I will argue that, if the historical accounts found in the scientific literature invariably insist on Fulbe hegemony and minimize the role played by the local populations, it is because those accounts are often based on Fulbe traditions, and because these traditions are remodeled by the Fulbe in order to correspond to their discourse on identity.

Jihadist violence in Sahel will persist in 2021

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Military Leadership ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Joint Force ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Strong Commitment ◽  
G5 Sahel Joint Force ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Military

Significance The deployment of the UK troops comes at a time when jihadists attacks are intensifying across the Sahel amid an escalating internecine conflict between the al-Qaida-affiliated Group for Supporting Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). Impacts Mali’s coup is likely to distract the military leadership away from its core mandate to improve national security. The G5 Sahel Joint Force may continue to struggle to curb jihadist cross-border operations. The deployment of UK troops underscores the still strong commitment of Western governments to improving the security situation in the Sahel.

In Pursuit of “Growth with Equity”: The Limits of Chile's Free-Market Social Reforms

1997 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pilar Vergara
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Dual Model ◽  
Military Government ◽  
Economic Stability ◽  
Rural Migrants ◽  
Social Reforms ◽  
Social Strategy ◽  
The Military

The economic and social strategy developed by the democratic governments in Chile since 1990 has been based on the premise that free-market policies promoting growth and economic stability must continue, but should be combined with social policies designed to promote greater equality. This new set of policies produced quick and positive results in the context of strong economic growth. The reduction of poverty was its crowning achievement. However, not all the Concertación's redistributive efforts have enjoyed the same level of success. Inequalities in income distribution are again increasing. Significant segments of society, such as subsistence farmers, rural migrants to cities, women and youth who lack vocational training—as well as an important segment of the middle class that had been impoverished during the military regime—are being systematically marginalized from the benefits of economic growth and social policy. The fundamental problems of current Chilean social policy are rooted in the privatization of social sectors under the military government and the resulting dual model of social welfare.

UK defence review presages global capability upgrade

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Civilian Workforce ◽  
Joint Task ◽  
Defence Spending ◽  
Joint Task Force ◽  
State Group

Significance SDSR 2015 revealed significant defence commitment decisions. Many of these correct choices made in the preceding SDSR 2010, and constitute an implicit recognition that the government's previous emphasis on cuts and savings may have been an error. Impacts The SDSR will boost Cameron's effort to win parliamentary backing for UK air strikes against Islamic State group (ISG) in Syria. UK-French cooperation will grow, including joint development of a combat drone, and a 10,000-strong Combined Joint Task Force due in 2016. Equipment decisions will boost firms including Lockeed Martin and Boeing (US), Dassault (France) and BAE, Rolls Royce and Babcock (UK). Higher defence spending, especially on replacing all four Trident nuclear submarines, will heighten political arguments over defence issues. A planned 30% cut to the Ministry of Defence's civilian workforce will have a negative impact, at least for a transitional period.

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