Summary
Sietse Bosgra
Somalië: wel piraten, geen terroristen
Sietse Bosgra surveys current events in Somalia, which tops the Failed States Index of 2008. The country has lacked a well-functioning and internationally recognized central government since 1991. The clans are a dividing factor whereas Islam is the uniting force. After 9/11 Somalia became one of the battlefields in America's 'global war on terror'. The CIA started to recruit gangs of unsavory warlords to kill or kidnap religious leaders, thereby fuelling public frustration and strengthening support for the 'Islamic Courts', that had become the dominant system of governance and administration in the country. After the European Union had appealed in vain to Washington to enter into a working relationship with the 'Courts', it succeeded in starting a dialogue between the 'Courts' and the Transitional Government of Somalia, which resulted in December 2006 in a power-sharing agreement between both parties. Yet, three weeks after that agreement was signed, Somalia was invaded by an Ethiopian army of 30.000 soldiers, backed by the United States. The EU strongly condemned the invasion. The Somali's, however, were able to resist the foreign occupation and in December 2008 the Ethiopian troops announced their withdrawal from Somalia. As a result of the invasion the country is destroyed, more than 10.000 civilians were killed and over one million people have fled their homes.