EUTM Somalia - Europa

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10 Somalia – A country torn apart Al-Shabaab members on the northern outskirts of Mogadishu in November 2008 The beginning of the Somalia crisis may be traced to the collapse of the state following the fall of the last president of a united Somalia, Siad Barre, in 1991, when he was overthrown by an alliance of the major clans in the country, with external support. A civil war period followed, particularly violent in the centre and the south of the country, with numerous warlords and militias contesting for control of Mogadishu, the capital city, and its hinterland. In the north Somaliland declared its selfindependence and started a long process to build a viable state, looking for international recognition. In 1992, the increasing instability in Somalia made the consequences of the drought worse and provoked a humanitarian crisis. This situation persuaded the United Nations Security Council to mandate the deployment of a limited peacekeeping mission, UNOSOM I. This initiative was superseded in December 1992 by a multinational force of 37,000 soldiers, UNITAF, under US command. In 1993, with a more robust mandate, UNOSOM II integrated most of the international troops and got the additional task to support national reconciliation. In March 1994, the US withdrew their significant contribution to the UN mission, followed by the main troop contributors. UNOSOM II finished its mandate with a feeling of failure. Somalia drowned slowly in a civil war. During the following decade several attempts were made to achieve reconciliation through different agreements, without any success. Somalia was stuck into a mostly clan conflict and nobody has been able to tackle with the proliferation of militias all over the territory. In 2004, following talks in Kenya, a Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Transitional Federal Institutions (TFI) were established but did not succeed in settling its control and legitimacy, notably in Mogadishu. Shortly after its creation the TFG faced the emergence of a coalition of Islamic courts, at first in Mogadishu, in an effort to restore a sort of order and justice. In 2006, this coalition formed the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and quickly spread over the south and the centre of Somalia. In late 2006 Ethiopian forces entered Somalia to drive back the UIC who threatened the survival of the TFG.
While not authorising the intervention, the UN did not formally oppose it and Ethiopian forces remained in the country until early 2009. The UIC was quickly defeated by the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) but its most hard-line branch reorganised to fight the Ethiopians. They created Harakat al- Residents walk through the Bakara Market area of Somalia’s Mogadishu 11 Shabaab al-Mujahideen, commonly known as Al Shabaab. The new insurgency succeeded in linking radical ideology and nationalism against the Ethiopians, which resulted in mass support. After the withdrawal of the ENDF from Somalia, between late 2008 and early 2009, Al-Shabaab made immediate gains in its campaigns against a renewed Transitional Federal Government (Djibouti Agreement bringing into power a former leader of the UIC, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed), capturing Baidoa, the base of the Transitional Federal Parliament, on January 26th 2009. Within a few weeks the insurgency captured the entire south as well as most parts of the centre of the country. To takeover from ENDF and to support the political reconciliation, the African Union had agreed in early 2007, to the deployment of a peacekeeping mission, AMISOM. With an authorised strength of 8,000 troops (Uganda and Burundi were the two first troop contributing countries), AMISOM concentrated its deployment in Mogadishu in order to protect the transitional institutions. Step by step the mission expanded its controlled area to the entire capital city, in doing so pressing Al Somalia’s children. A brighter future awaits ?.... Shabaab to withdraw from Bakara Market in August 2011. Concurrently in the south and the centre of Somalia, a gathering of TFG-loyal forces, with support of Kenyan and Ethiopian armies, started to successfully take back control of large territories from Al Shabaab. In February 2012, the UN Security Council increased the amount of troops deployed to 17,731, in order to give to AMISOM the capabilities to deploy outside Mogadishu. The mandate of the Transitional Federal Government concludes in August 2012. Somalia then enters a new era and will attempt to rebuild what has been destroyed over the last two decades. A new Constitution, produced following a lengthy consultation with traditional elders and civil society, will give to the next institutions a strong basis for the construction of a new state which will hopefully definitely turn the page of the “failed state” denomination.
Page 1: EUTM SOMALIA A European success sto
Page 4 and 5: 2 Foreword by Mission Commander, EU
Page 6 and 7: 4 units exercise exclusively with S
Page 8 and 9: 6 explosive devices (IEDs) are all
Page 10 and 11: 8 THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA UGANDA - A
Page 14 and 15: 12 The first Somali trainees arrive
Page 16 and 17: 14 Bihanga Training Camp (BTC) With
Page 18 and 19: 16 Among the main subjects are: Com
Page 20 and 21: 18 EUTM Somalia training outputs Ma
Page 22 and 23: 20 home country? Do you think they
Page 24 and 25: 22 Voxpops The voices of Never shy
Page 26: 24 Troop Contributing Nations (TCN)

EUTM Somalia - Europa

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