Somalia Between Jihad and Restoration

Dramatic events in Somalia between June and December 2006 included the rise and fall of a radical Islamic movement, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which attracted global attention to the strategic area of the Horn of Africa. In this volume, Shaul Shay analyzes the background and the events that led Somalia to its current situation.

Since 1991 Somalia has been defined as a failing state, one that lacks an effective central government. The vacuum of power in Somalia, in turn, enabled Al Qaida and other radical Islamic organizations to find allies and refuge in there. Shay's account shows how the presence of radical Islamic entities in the area, alongside local problems and conflicts, has turned Somalia into a focal point in the global war against terror. On June 5, 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) declared victory in its struggle against the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter Terrorism (ARPCT), a coalition of U.S. backed warlords. Shortly after their victory announcement, the ICU implemented a Taliban-style radical Islamic rule. The rule of the ICU was brief. In December 2006 they were defeated by a coalition of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Ethiopian forces.

In spite of the ICU's defeat, internal conflict in Somalia between the ICU and the interim government of Somalia (TFG), backed by Ethiopia, is still far from concluded. Shay shows how the internal conflict may spill over into other nations, creating a larger regional theater of Jihad. He also provides some ideas on how to prevent the foundation of a new radical Islamic state that could become a haven of the Islamic terror in the Horn of Africa. This volume is instructive in demonstrating the consequences of destabilization. It will be of interest to foreign policy analysts, regional specialists, and strategists in the war against terror.

Shaul Shay is a senior research fellow at the International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Israel, and heads the Israel Defense Forces Department of History. An expert on international and Fundamentalist Islam terrorism, he has published studies and articles in Israel and abroad as well as a number of books on the subject.