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Challenges Influencing Peace Building Strategies in Somalia: A Study of AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)DOI: 10.4236/oalib.1103249, PP. 1-20 Subject Areas: Politics Keywords: Violent Conflict, AMISOM, Peace Support Operations, Al Shabaab Abstract
Somalia has been caught in a wave of violent
conflicts since collapse of the central government in the early 1990s.
Different armed militant groups have been controlling most parts of the failed
state. Al shabaab remains a major threat to the weak Federal Government of
Somalia. Different peace support operations have been mounted in the past yet
durable peace remains elusive. Previous
peace support operations were faced with a lot of challenges prompting UN and the international community to abort
the interventions. UNOSOM I and II failed to meet their mandates with the
former ending after an outcry by the American citizens for US to withdraw its
forces out of Somalia due to heavy casualty that was incurred by the marine
forces. The Special Forces suffered
fatalities during the mission dubbed Gothic the Serpent which was aimed
at capturing the notorious warlord General Farah in the murky streets of
Mogadishu. Such failures of the past peace support operations are still
mirrored with the AMISOM. In this regard,
this article evaluated the challenges AMISOM faces in influencing peace
building strategies in Somalia. The researcher targeted the AMISOM troops and the locals. The primary data was collected
through interviews and questionnaires.
Secondary data was gathered and reviewed from journals, books, magazines, newspapers and published proceedings that
corroborated the primary data. The study found out that the mechanism
lacks appropriate systems for intelligence and information gathering, the
AMISOM is poorly equipped with lack of sustainable funding sources and weak Federal
Government of Somalia complicates the peace support operations since it is
marred with internal wrangles. The study recommends that alternative
sustainable sources of fund to be established; and AMISOM should enhance capacity building for the National
Security Agencies (Somalia National Army, Police Force and National
Intelligence Service Agency) as part of exit strategy. The findings should help in designing peace support operation practices,
processes and strategies for ensuring durable and sustainable peace in Somalia
and other war torn states.
Ligawa, W. O. (2017). Challenges Influencing Peace Building Strategies in Somalia: A Study of AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Open Access Library Journal, 4, e3249. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1103249. References
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