Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Analysis of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government

Lars Seland Gomsrud of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo and Mohamed Husein Gaas at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences recently published a brief analysis (PDF, also embedded below) of the Transitional National Government (TFG) in Somalia.

They identify the challenges that it faces and conclude that it is not likely to solve the problems of the country. They add that military intervention alone is not the answer and the international community lacks a comprehensive long-term policy towards Somalia.

At the same time, abandoning the TFG is not an option for the international community. The only viable solution is reform of the TFG. They argue that Somalia’s problems are fundamentally political and need to be addressed as such.

Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government at a Crossroads