11 February 2002
Scholar Calls for "Sustained Re-engagement" in Somalia
(Menkhaus speaks before Senate Foreign Relations panel) (620)
By Aly Lakhaney
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- A scholar testifying before Congress has called for a
"sustained re-engagement" in Somalia that focuses on quality rather
than quantity of assistance.
Speaking February 6 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's
Subcommittee on African Affairs, Dr. Ken Menkhaus said, "The U.S. and
its international partners must take care not to throw money at
self-declared regional or national authorities" in Somalia.
Menkhaus, who is associate professor of political science at Davidson
College in North Carolina, added that past strategies by international
donors have reinforced "old, bad political habits in Somalia -- habits
of competing to control the state solely to profiteer from diverted
foreign assistance."
(Somalia has been without a central government since 1991, when
warring factions split it into various warlord fiefdoms, leading to
prolonged civil strife and a famine that caused the United Nations to
intervene in 1992.)
Because much of the direct government assistance to Somalia had been
misused, the professor suggested that the United States take an
alternative approach and focus on engaging the business community,
which, he noted, "has emerged as the most powerful political force in
the country."
In the past, Menkhaus said, "we did nothing for the private sector. It
didn't even occur to us to work to build up a private sector. Now you
go there [Somalia] and you see there are these very innovative
entrepreneurial sectors of the economy that are very, very dynamic."
Commenting further on the private sector approach, the professor said:
"We've got to be sure we are swimming with the tide in Somalia, not
against the tide, when it comes to foreign aid. Foreign assistance
needs to facilitate trends that are already happening in Somalia, not
try to impose something that's been thought up in the World Bank or a
U.N. office."
In addition, Menkhaus pointed out that "our robust domestic [U.S.]
market is itself a tool," and "projects aimed at making the American
market more accessible for key exports, at assisting Somali livestock
exports, improving infrastructure and management at key ports, or at
encouraging American partnerships with Somali entrepreneurs" are some
of the possible engagements the United States could have with the
business community in Somalia.
Introducing the topic of international terrorism, Senator Russ
Feingold, (Democrat of Wisconsin), chairman of the Subcommittee on
African Affairs, said, "This hearing asks the question, What are the
prospects and options for a coherent, long-term Somalia policy that
aims to strengthen state capacity and curtail opportunities for
terrorists and other international criminals within Somalia's
borders?"
Somalia already has a domestic terrorist group called al-Ittihad,
which has suspected ties to al-Qaeda. Menkhaus said. He added that
terrorist organizations and radical Islamic movements are attractive
"because they are perceived [by Somalis] to be the only external
interest in Somalia that's providing schools, that's providing loans
to businessmen, that seems to be providing tangible results."
In that respect, Menkhaus described Somali society as "remarkably
pragmatic" and one that does not "embrace foreign ideologies [and
radical Islamic agendas are viewed as foreign] unless they yield
tangible benefits." Once the benefits are gone, he said, so is the
support for the ideology.
"Through creative use of the carrots as well as the sticks which we
have at our disposal," Menkhaus said, "we can shape Somalis'
cost-benefit calculations in ways that make it worth their while to
cooperate with us in preventing terrorist activities in their
country."
Summing up, he emphasized that engaging the business community and
developing a private sector in Somalia are a winning development
combination that can best employ the partnerships among local
governments, internationa donors, and the international private
sector.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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