Leaving a Legacy

The ongoing conflict in Somalia, and the complexities that come with finding lasting solutions to a conflict that has raged for decades now, continue to perplex the international community. While a range of previously tried and tested approaches to conflict management are being applied, it is becoming apparent that the international toolkit for responding to conflict situations of such complexity is extremely limited. Indeed, as one international conference after another on Somalia takes place, compacts are signed and funding windows established, old frameworks are abandoned and new ones are forged, and roadmap after roadmap pave the way for further engagement, and as an increasing number of international actors are developing series upon series of strategies for Somalia, the timeframes for engagement are becoming increasingly protracted, and Somali reliance on external actors is being entrenched. Perplexingly little attention is being paid to one core question though: what do the Somali people themselves want?