A new report makes recommendations onwhat the international community should do to help bring peace to Somalia.Beyond Piracy: Next Steps to Stabilize Somalia is published by the EnoughProject, part of Center for American Progress in Washington.
Thereport finds piracy to be the "lowest order of threat" to Somalia, the regionand the United States. Davidson College political science professor KenMenkhaus is one of the authors.
"It'sclearly a second order threat compared to the main security issue in Somalia,which is the state of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the statusof the Shabaab insurgency and the growing al-Qaida presence in support ofShabaab. That's really of much greater long-term importance both to theSomalis, to the United States and to the region than piracy is," he says.
Menkhaussays the piracy problem should be addressed, but adds, "If it's privileged inUS policy or global policy, it could come at a cost of a more coherent strategytoward that first order threat, which is the increased al-Qaida activities andShabaab's continued strength in southern Somalia."
TheENOUGH Project report makes a number of recommendations to improve security,such as supporting local efforts.
"TheSomalis can do that. They have done that? It's important not to address thesecurity needs of the Transitional Federal Government as something that has tobecome a ward of the international community. The international community canprovide support, but this has to be locally owned and it has to be primarilylocally funded if it's going to work," he says.
Withal-Qaida and al Shabaab are on the US terrorist list, how does the UnitedStates address that issue in Somalia? Menkhaus says, "I think the key here ishow we define Shabaab. Shabaab is not an organization in which you are a hardand fast member. This is more of a Somali dynamic where there are concentriccircles of affiliation. And I think some flexibility on the part of the UnitedStates and other external actors as to how a terrorist organization and howindividuals are defined is very important."
Changein affiliation and loyalties can happen among the various groups in Somalia.Menkhaus says, "There are lots and lots of people who have re-hatted themselvesin Somalia in various ways, including Shabaab (members), who in fact are notindoctrinated into hardcore jihadist ideologies. They can be brought into thisbroader Transitional Federal Government. They should be."
Heagrees with the current approach of the TFG to reach out to the many differentgroups in Somalia. But he says there should be certain conditions if they joinwith the TFG.
"Theyobviously cannot be making the territorial claims on neighbors. They have torespect the security of neighboring states and not be interested in harboringforeign al-Qaida terrorists," he says.
Thereport also calls for an end to impunity by supporting Somali efforts to seekjustice for war crimes.
"Warcrimes in Somalia have been a plague for 20 years. The past two years have beenespecially brutal. And of course there are many potentially culpable parties tothat, including the old transitional federal government, including theinsurgents, including the Ethiopian occupying forces?that all has to be lookedat. Ultimately, the dispensation of war criminals is a matter for the Somalipeople to decide," he says.
Thereport recommends international support for Somali efforts at transition andgood governance. Menkhaus says, "This is one of the things that theinternational community in general can do and has to do in a supporting role inSomalia. Transitions are very difficult things to achieve. We have a lot ofexperience internationally with transitional governments from Congo to a hostof other places. And we can bring that expertise to the Somalis."
He says Somalis must remember the"principle task" of the TFG is to, among other things, write a new constitutionto ensure Somalia has a legitimate government.