A month before twin suicide bombs exploded in Kampala, Uganda on July 11th, and before the Somali-based militant group al-Shabaab openly confessed responsibility for the terrorist attacks (Islamists claim attack in Uganda) the New York Times wrote an investigative report about child soldiers in Somalia working for a military that is armed and financed by the United States as part of a counter-terrorism strategy in the Horn of Africa (Children carry guns for US ally, Somalia). The African Union Summit, currently underway in Kampala this week, is serving as a culminating platform for U.S. diplomats, security generals and special envoys to voice their support for the African Union’s decision to increase their military efforts in fighting al-Shabaab in Somalia as part of the larger battle to incriminate terrorist actions across the globe (Briefing on African Union Summit, US department of State). However, America’s full-fledged military support for these new initiatives only serves to increase violence in the already anarchistic region and fails to recognize how aptly blind U.S. foreign policy has been toward Somalia since 1991.

In deciding to remove the blinders from their diplomatic eyes, the Obama Administration voices its support for an active engagement with African leaders in peacekeeping efforts throughout East Africa, while denouncing the terrorist vigilantes instigated by al-Shabaab radicals. However, what the U.S. fails to recognize is that American policy of negligence in a region that has been classified as “stateless” for the last 20 years, is suddenly deserving of our attention only now when it serves our “seek-and-destroy” national security objectives. Furthermore, nowhere in this doctrine of instructive diplomacy does President Obama or anyone else in the Department of States reiterate the necessity of political stability in the region. Political stability is a prerequisite to quell social instability, including actions of militant fringe groups. Not one newspaper article or Department of State press release recognizes this monstrous elephant in the room: Somalia does not have a legitimate centralized government, and therefore, without a centralized federal structure, whom is the U.S. actually extending its support?  

One way that the U.S. can authenticate its rhetoric is by recognizing the legitimacy of the northwest region of Somalia that does have political stability: the sovereign territory of Somaliland. Secondly, the U.S. should concentrate some of its military efforts on relieving the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Somalia – the deplorable socioeconomic welfare of the “country’s” citizens has increased exponentially since the nation’s collapse 20 years prior. The current government in Somalia lacks the ability to protect the interests of its people, and the people recognize its inept ability to legitimately provide the services and protection they need as citizens. By increasing U.S. funded humanitarian aid to the region, international leaders can also hope to reduce the desperate circumstances people find themselves under on a daily basis in Somalia. In doing so, recruitment by extremist groups sympathizing with their plight may be reduced as the citizens see they have different options to improve their lives that do not involve joining a terrorist organization.

Overall, the United States has been given a crucial opportunity to amend 20 years of discrepant foreign policy in the Horn of Africa. The recent terrorist bombings in Uganda can serve to strengthen relations between US Department of State and African government leaders, while also increasing the legitimacy of African multinational institutions, like the African Union, by providing an avenue for African governments to mobilize collectively and interact with the Obama Administration in a manner that is equitable and mutually beneficial. Overall, African leaders should take the lead in drafting the new policy toward Somalia, with an emphasis on shifting the mindset of ordinary Somalis away from a deterministic outlook where young men think groups like al-Shabaab provide the only outlet to escape their suffering. Instead, let the United States coerce them not with guns and military prowess, but with “carrots of development” through support for political stability that can end 20 years of humanitarian crises in a country that deserves long-term support from the entire international community.

Kathryn Staples
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