UN Role in Somalia

Anthony Banbury, UN assistant secretary general for field support, wrote a commentary on the UN role in Somalia that appeared in the 23 October 2012 Washington Post. He accurately emphasized the UN's important and continuing effort in Somalia since the early 1990s to encourage peace and provide humanitarian aid, albeit downplaying the missteps of the UNOSOM phase in the mid-1990s.

Although he cited the role of the African Union in Somalia (AMISOM), it should be underscored that AMISOM has done the heavy lifting in Somalia since 2007. The African Union (mainly Ugandan and Burundi forces joined later by the Kenyans and Djiboutians) sent troops to Somalia when the United Nations chose not to do so.

Click here to read Banbury's commentary.