There is such a thing as a war economy where a country’s production capacity runs to fuel a specific ongoing conflict, for the case of Somalia it has been the reality for over two decades. As the marketization of war in the south of Somalia remains the singular diffidence in the country, Somalis are so entrenched in violent conflicts that the stabilisation of the country seems a far-fetched theory. The business and the political routes the city of Mogadishu takes are intertwined with the continuation of the fragility in the country, as political entrepreneurs, political brokers and war profiteers are very keen in keeping the state as a ‘failure’ in order to make a profit. Political Historian, Mohamed Haji Ingriis implies how the spoils of war accumulate, as he suggests how international involvement in the security sector contributes to its fragility as the sources of war economies are integral part of the politics and conflict of southern Somalia. Allowing for peace talks in the country to be overtly scrutinised by significant parties.
Thus, we have two very differing sides of the same practical coin. As on the one hand we have the Somali nobles and businessmen that profit from this war economy, and on the other we have the international community and their efforts of peacebuilding. This being said, international peacebuilding efforts in Somalia go against the structural reigns and ideologies of the Somali people. As international peacebuilders are very much interested in creating a meticulous type of peace, as it has already predetermined the universal structure of what peace and the organisation of a nation-state should be, according to the Weberian model. As the international community, the United States and Europe, have implemented liberal democracy in their home states they in turn believe that it should be the cornerstone of every nation in order to strengthen the resolution of a country. So, in order to manage or even avoid conflict, weaker states should follow this model of liberal democracy and market economy as it is indeed the superior model. The model that works for the international community fittingly, needs to be implemented in recovering states in order to stop it from inevitable ruin.
A ruin that was very much preventable, if the imperialist programs of Europe didn’t already drain the wealth and values of these weak nations in their colonial conquests. Hence, by following these conventions it enables peacebuilding to become a restructured version of the colonial project. As the main goal of peacebuilding promotes neo-liberalism — unregulated, market economy, liberal democracy, free flow of private capital, privatisation; contradicting the efforts of the generally elected officials of supposed countries. If indigenous values and institutions are very much not in conformity with the neo-liberal model, there can never be the implementation of a modernisation process in the above-mentioned countries. This is due to the European conventional method of democracy knocking down indigenous knowledge and ways of living. Post-Colonial theory sets into motion the comprehensive issue of European modernity which is a sentiment solely motivated by the thought that Europe has its own origin and, consequently, has nothing to learn from other cultures.
Within our contemporary society, the face of colonialism is no more, instead we have new forms of interventionism that can be seen as neo-colonialism. Peacebuilding for instance is suggested as the new form of colonial conquest, as it foremost tries to implement western values of ‘peace’ into societies such as East Africa where it means something completely different. This universal declaration of peace is mismatched in Somalia, as their version of peace is more intricately conjoined with nationalism. Clan identity is a leading factor in Somali violence, as we’ve seen, so the only destabilising aspect of said violence could only be conformed with Pan-Somalism. As the only time in its history that the Somali nation has stopped inward conflict is when they were looking towards establishing a Greater Somalia. Thus, the unifying approach to peace is allowing Somali nationalism to bloom, as in practice, it is the only time that Somalia has seen any semblance of the universally acknowledged prospect of peace.
Therefore, in understanding the chaotic nature of East African policy we need to understand the impact the international community has on the global south. As it’s this course of indifference that keeps these nations in a perpetual cycle of disarray. Millions of individuals are displaced through natural and economic effects. The region is ravaged by constant droughts, child mortality rate is the highest in the whole of Africa and all of this is not being helped by airstrikes and droning’s against supposed Islamic terror groups. The international community keeps its fight against terror going by indiscriminately killing civilians. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) recorded a total of 1,154 civilian casualties in mid-November 2019, according to Human Rights Watch. By pursuing a futile operation against terrorism, the region is being further pushed into chaotic conflicts. Instead the efforts should be pushed towards creating a sustainable security sector in the country, improving the relations between the federal government, state authorities and clan leaders, with this they can then strengthen the regional electoral process ensuring that discrimination on the basis of clan is not present in any governance of the country. Which would then timely root out religious extremism as it doesn’t hold much of a foothold in Somali governing anymore. But this is not what we have seen, instead, there is further distrust in any future intervention under the guise of peacebuilding as the structures aforementioned are not a priority for the international community, and it hasn’t been for over three decades.
