Global Issues: Terrorism and Aid - UK Pledges Aid to Somalia

UK Pledges Somalia aid amid terror threat

In a shift to British policy the UK is set to announce its first aid package to war-torn Somalia, the most glaring of the world’s ‘failed states’, amid concerns that the country could harbour al-Qaida militants. Following on from the Home Secretary banning the Somali terrorist group Al Shabaab, the UK is about to announce its first aid package for Somalia’s transitional government amid mounting concern that without more international support the war-torn country could become a safe haven for al-Qaida.

Beyond the obvious tie in with topic on Terrorism, this story is provides a nice example for the topic of Aid: in relation to the issue of bilateral aid and the fact that counties do not tend to necessarily give out aid ‘freely’, but rather conditions are attached and it tends to be motivated by self-interest. Thus aid can be seen to be security linked and given to countries who pose the latest security risk, such as Iraq, Afghanistan and now Somalia! Read here for the full article from Channel 4 news.

Other related links on Somalia are:

1. Somalia, the new Pakistan? [video footage included by Rageh Omar]
2. Somalia: an under-reported failed state

Also Chatham House has just hosted Somalia’s President Sharif and run an event entitled: ‘Somalia at the Crossroads’. Chatham Houses’ website states:

“President Sharif’s government is fighting a range of insurgent groups for control of Somalia, some of which have been linked to international terrorist attacks. The country faces severe humanitarian and development challenges, has lacked stability for 20 years and has consistently been declared to have the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. In recent years piracy off the coast of Somalia has brought new international attention to the conflict. President Sharif was formerly leader of the Islamic Courts Union government and an opposition leader before becoming President of the Transitional Federal Government in 2009.”

Also Chatham Houses’ World Today in Janaury 2010 featured an article entitled: Somalia: Bad Situation, Getting Worse. The blurb states:
“No end is in sight to the crisis in Somalia, which only gets worse. The international community has grown accustomed to it being without effective government. There are few expressions of sympathy for the daily victims of violence in Mogadishu or audible concerns over the profound humanitarian disaster. The suggestion by former Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch- Brown last July that Somalia rather than Afghanistan poses the greater terrorist threat to Britain, produced only a ripple of interest. Piracy now plaguing the seas can still capture media attention, yet the response has not gone much beyond spawning a lucrative protection industry to share the spoils of state collapse.Something new must be done.”