At next month's Africa Leaders' Summit in Washington D.C., it'll be
important for President Barack Obama to refrain from prioritizing
counter-terrorism, resource extractive or aid-only agendas - which is what
has dominated White House policies in the past - and pursue, instead, a more
just path for the 54 countries on the continent, 47 of which have been
invited to the Washington summit.
Of the seven countries that have been excluded from the invite list, Somalia
is not one of them, thankfully. And lest the United States get increasingly
interested in the kinds of military-first interventions that have
characterized U.S. foreign policy in Somalia, as I witnessed in my trip
there last year, the Summit should serve as a reflection point before the
West worsens the war it's waging on the Horn and elsewhere.
When Americans think of Somalia, the first thing they likely think of is
al-Shabaab, the violent rebel group that sprung from the military wing of
the Islamic Courts Union that once ran the country. The al-Shabaab fit
nicely into the characteristics of the West's war on terrorism, as well as
the conservative narrative about Islam and violence.
There is much that is misunderstood about this movement and the country that
is trying to quell it.
Al-Shabaab means "youth" in Arabic and is largely made up of young persons
who were previously unemployed, aimless and impoverished. They are recruited
with nothing more than a $20 gift or a cell phone. Much of the mid-level
leadership is filled by marginalized clans, persons who didn't get to
participate in the political process, at least not in a meaningful way, like
the handful of majority clans have historically.
The majority of al-Shabaab is not composed of people who are inherently set
with a sinister agenda for Somalia and the West, but rather people in search
of job security and political power. The good news here is that these needs
can be met through more legitimate means.
In fact, not unlike Somalia, some of the most unstable and insecure
countries in Sub-Saharan Africa perform the poorest in the JustJobs Index's
country rankings concerning employment opportunity, income security,
employment security, safety at work and healthy work conditions, equality of
treatment and opportunity. Any young man - in Somalia on the Horn or in
Nigeria in West Africa - is going to be much less inclined to pursue
violence if he's got a good job, a quality education and socio-economic
opportunities available. Without these basic ingredients, this young man has
nothing to lose.
While this may not be an easy task, the outline is clear. First order of
business is to prioritize socio-economic development, something that has not
been on the West's agenda for the Horn. As I walked the streets of Mogadishu
late last year, thousands of youth milled about, aimless, listless and
jobless. In speaking with the women and youth organizations and coalitions
operating throughout the country, the United States has not invested in
strategies to get these kids off the streets and into just jobs. This is a
missed opportunity, one that does not require much funding, and one that
should be remedied immediately.
The U.S. Department of Justice's Terrorist Watch list creates obstacles to
aid - e.g. support for socio-economic development and job creation for youth
who are at risk of recruitment by al-Shabaab. This is problematic. Somalia's
most recent famine, in 2010-2012, which killed more than 250,000 Somalis, is
believed to be partially a result of the World Food Programme retracting its
food distribution out of fear it would end up in the hands of al-Shabaab.
While I understand why policymakers wouldn't want U.S. aid to end up in the
hands of people who do violence, what about U.S. aid for preventing people
from doing violence? These Somali youth need our help and if we fail to
offer it to them, they will go to the loudest local recruiter, who, in many
cases, is the Shabaab.
Whether it's disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs and
rigorous religious retraining and rehabilitation for former fighters, or,
for future fighters, something more preventative like skills training and
job placement to ensure that the Shabaab's recruitment strategies are
ineffective, the West must be ready to reconsider how we prevent violence
overseas, because the current approach isn't working. We're allowing new
recruits to be swept up for something as simple as a cell phone. We can do
better.
There's incredible opportunity for engagement but we're not seizing it, and,
instead, sticking to our old ways in America's so-called "war on terror."
Those ways are military-focused, not socio-economically inclined, and
engaging only segments of the population, not the disenfranchised and
marginalized. If we want to win over Somalis, an about-face is needed, and
it is needed now.
As President Obama plans his August summit in Washington D.C, we can help
tip the scales in Somalia towards something very positive. But it requires a
serious. Rethink on how we wage war. In Somalia, a war on poverty and
unemployment would go a lot farther in meeting our objectives than our
current strategy and for a lot less money. The time for that rethink is now.
Michael Shank, Ph.D., is the associate director for legislative affairs the
Friends Committee on National Legislation, adjunct faculty at George Mason
University's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and senior fellow
at the JustJobs Network. Follow him on Twitter at _at_Michael_Shank.