From Civil War among Clans to War on Terror: The Regionalization and Internationalization of the Somali Conflict.

Year 2020, Volume: 2 Issue: 5, 47 - 70, 01.10.2020

Mohamed Salah Ahmed

Abstract

From Civil War among Clans to War on Terror: The Regionalization and Internationalization of the Somali Conflict.

Abstract

The collapse of the Somali military regime on
21, January 1991 was followed by a bloody civil war among clans which caused a
severe humanitarian crisis that caught the mainstream media headlines.
Nevertheless, most of the studies written about the civil war and its
implications at the time have indicated as an internal conflict despite the
ornament and momentum that gained within the literature. The emergence of armed
Islamists alongside the US policies of counterterrorism after 9/11 has changed
the nature and direction of the Somali conflict. The international community
has created a peace operation or what seemed to be counterterrorism operations
to contain the threats that armed Islamists pose to the regional and
international security. Therefore, this article aims to reflect upon the birth
of armed jihadist groups in Somalia, which turned the internal civil war and
conflict into a regional and international security threat. Most notably, how
the Islamists capitalized the foreign military interventions, meant to contain
and dismantle their evolution and turned into their advantage. Besides, this
paper aims at adding some new insights and significant understandings to the
debates and literature of armed jihadists and their role in the Somali conflict
in particular. 

Keywords

Civil war, armed jihadists

References

• Murat Onder [e-mail]