Somalia: Another Afghanistan? State Rebuilding, the War on Terror, and Donor Fatigue
By Mohamed Abdullahi Hussein (Shoortaaye)
Somalia’s post-1991 trajectory remains one of the most prolonged, externally mediated, and internally disrupted state-rebuilding efforts in modern political history. More than three decades of conferences, compacts, and internationally engineered “state-building” have yielded the skeleton of a government, but not the soul of a functioning state. Despite a federal constitution, periodic elections, and formal institutions, the Somali state lacks the ethical, intellectual, and civic spine to lead itself out of crisis. Leadership in Somalia remains paralyzed not by lack of international attention, but by a profound vacuum of ethics, vision, and legitimacy.
At the heart of this vacuum lies a paradox: Somalia receives billions in foreign aid, yet remains chronically underdeveloped, politically unstable, and socially fractured. This contradiction is not incidental – it is systemic. The very funds meant to rebuild Somalia have instead become key enablers of the country’s political and financial corruption. Foreign financial flows, especially those disbursed without strict accountability mechanisms, have empowered predatory elites, entrenched patronage networks, and normalized political repression under the guise of development and security. The World Bank’s Multi-Partner Fund, bilateral aid from Western governments, and opaque financial donations to Villa Somalia are not just neutral injections of capital – they are political weapons that shape who rises, who falls, and how power is abused.
These foreign-funded projects – whether administered by UN agencies or bilateral missions – have become tools of political coercion. In the hands of Somalia’s executive elites, particularly the presidency and inner circle of Villa Somalia, such funds are used to marginalize dissenting Federal Member States (FMSs), reward political loyalty, and manipulate institutional processes. Rather than facilitating equitable governance, these resources are weaponized to enforce political obedience, fuel internal conflict, and suppress alternative centers of power.
Continue reading: Somalia – Another Afghanistan – State Rebuilding, The War on Terror and Donor Fatigue
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