Somalia: Rule of Law and Independent Judiciary

 The Heritage Institute for Policy Studies published in January 2025 a study titled "Rule of Law and Independent Judiciary in Somalia" by Bashir M. Sheikh-Ali.  

Somalia's judiciary has historically been weak and politically influenced, limiting its ability to uphold the rule of law.  Somalia's Provisional Constitution does not resolve this problem.

The author advocates for the creation of strong legal frameworks and institutions, emphasizing that Somalia's cultural commitment to justice, if properly harnessed, can ignite a transformative legal renaissance in the country.  

Somali Federalism

Pambazuka News published on 6 April 2017 a commentary titled "Federalism in Africa: The Case of Somalia" by Abdi Tawane, an independent writer on the Horn of Africa.

The author concludes that the formation of states that cut across clan lines may help Somalia achieve the illusive unity that it has been seeking for more than two decades. With fine tuning, Somalia may finally end up with a solution to end its prolonged mistrust and clan bickering to the satisfaction of all sides.

Christianity and Islam in Africa

The highly respected Pew Research Center has published a series of reports on religion that add to our knowledge about the subject in Africa. In 2010, it published a study titled "Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa." The study noted that while sub-Saharan Africa has almost twice as many Christians as Muslims, on the entire African continent the two faiths are roughly balanced with 400 to 500 million followers each. Since northern Africa is heavily Muslim and southern Africa is heavily Christian, the great meeting place is in the middle, a 4,500-mile swath from Somalia in the east to Senegal in the west. Click here to read the study on sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2011, the Pew Research Center published a report titled "Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population." Click here to read the report.

The Pew Research Center's most recent contribution appeared on 9 August 2012 and is titled "The World's Muslims: Unity and Diversity." Click here to read the executive summary.

VOA Somali Survey

The Voice of America Somali Service conducted a survey over a three month period that polled more than 3,000 Somalis in Somalia, Somaliland, and at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. The results were fascinating.

Eighty-seven percent of the Somalis agreed strongly that Sharia law should be applied as a civil and criminal code throughout Somalia. Support for Sharia was strong among men, women and across age groups and geographic regions.

Most Somalis believed that women should be involved in the political process; 77 percent of the women agreed and 58 percent of the men agreed. Surprisingly, however, more than a third of the Somalis surveyed opposed ANY role for women in politics.

On 10 July 2012, 825 members selected from traditional elders, intellectual and civil society groups plan to adopt a provisional constitution. A majority of Somalis surveyed--61 percent--said it should be approved through a national referendum, although they acknowledged security conditions and lack of logistical capacity make that impossible now.

Eighty-three percent of those polled supported a strong central government as opposed to 13 percent who wanted a weak central government. In Mogadishu 92 percent favored a strong central government compared to 77 percent in Puntland and 83 percent in Somaliland.

Click here to read the article.

Al-Shabaab's Leadership and Ideology

Abdi O. Shuriye, associate professor at the International Islamic University in Malaysia, published in the January 2012 issue of Academic Research International an article titled "Al-Shabaab's Leadership Hierarchy and Its Ideology." The objective of his research was to investigate al-Shabaab's political ideology and its structural leadership, to assess the ideological relationship between al-Qaeda, to comprehend the political future of the group and to ascertain its political and theological beliefs. The author concluded that al-Shabaab's political ideology originated outside Somalia.

Click here to read the entire article.

Sudan after the Division

The Wilson Center in Washington published in March 2012 a paper titled "United We Stand, Divided We Fall:" The Sudans after the Split. The principal contributors are Alan Goulty, former UK ambassador to Sudan and former UK special representative to Sudan, and Nureldin Satti, former Sudanese diplomat and UNESCO employee. Goulty and Satti are co-chairs of the Sudan Working Group at the Wilson Center. Click here to read the report.

Goulty and Satti focus on recent developments in the aftermath of a messy divorce of Sudan and South Sudan. They discuss the conflicts in Abyei, South Kordofan and the Nuba Mountains, the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, North and South differences on oil revenue, internal political rivalry and governance issues, and the mindsets, beliefs and biases of the leadership in Sudan and South Sudan.