AFRICOM Cultural Awareness Knowledge Center

Conflict in the Horn of Africa examines how the Kenya-Somalia border problem has deep roots in pre-colonial and colonial times mirroring the phenomenon of shifting territorial and human frontiers and treaties which Britain, France, Italy, and Ethiopia made before and after World Wars I and II. This book documents the Kenya-Somalia border problem from the nineteenth century, when decisions ignored African concerns, to independence, when Africans acted as the principal players.

The purpose of this book is to provide insight on the state collapse, insurgency, and counterinsurgency of Somalia.

A comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the spate of piracy and terrorism plaguing the waters of Somalia and the global threat posed by this activity.

Somalia has been devastated by a US-backed Ethiopian invasion and years of civil war, and it has long been without a central government. Against this background of violence, Somali academic Afyare Abdi Elmi, attempts to explain the multiple dimensions of the conflict and find a peace-building consensus. Somalia is a failed state and a Muslim state. This combination means the West assumes that it will become a breeding ground for extremism. The country regularly hits the headlines as a piracy hotspot. This combination of internal division and outside interference makes for an intensely hostile landscape. Elmi shows that only by addressing the problem of the statelessness in the country can the long process of peace begin. He highlights the various factors involved, including clan identities, Islam and other countries in the region, as the key elements in any peace-building effort. This is a unique account from an author who truly understands Somalia and should be required reading for students and academics of international relations and peace / conflict studies.

This is an authoritative account of the Somali region, its history, and the story of the Islamic extremists operating there today cites the high human cost of the region's clan-based civil war while explaining how current activities are directly threatening world security.