Somalia: Creating Space for Fresh Approaches to Peacebuilding

douglas ansel
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foreseeable future, even without challenging groups, solutions to Somalia’s
problems cannot focus on centralized authority building exercises.
2. Peacekemakers and the international community should not focus exclusively
on the ideological and governance aspects of civilian support for al-Shabaab.
Coercive violence also underlies the apparent support for the group. Attempts
to erode support for radical elements of al-Shabaab that do not address the
misuse of Islamic courts for coercive purposes will not tackle all the sources of
civilian support for al-Shabaab.
3. International strategies to weaken and defeat al-Shabaab, namely its designation
as a terrorist organization and AMISOM/TFG/Ethiopian efforts to defeat
it militarily, have had the opposite effect. Until harsh military reprisals against
al-Shabaab locations end, which often harm more civilians than militia, al-
Shabaab will continue to remain a viable source of security. Likewise, if Ethiopian
troops and their proxies re-enter the country, their presence will provide a
nationalistic rallying point for support of al-Shabaab. In a paradoxical situation,
strengthening the TFG militarily may be responsible for weakening its roots in
society, undercutting any hopes it has to govern effectively in the long run.