Economist: Somalia's state building project is in tatters

[Neptune]

Somalia’s state-building project is in tatters

The West has all but given up on it

www.economist.com

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[Neptune]

I like how the article noted the difference between a government that is actively fighting versus one that has become complacent under HSM

The campaign against IS, whose local leader is widely believed to be the group’s global caliph, seems to have been remarkably successful. Mohammed Mubarak, head of the state’s security co-ordination office, claims his forces have killed about 800 of what he reckons are between 950 and 1,100 IS fighters, with the remainder now holed up in a single cave complex.

The contrast with the rest of Somalia is striking. Three years into the four-year term of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the federal government in Mogadishu, the capital, looks weak.

 

[Neptune]

The quote below is something I think might end up possibly happening. When HSM goes through with the fake re-election in 2026, I believe there'll be a difference in international engagement. Western partners + UAE on one side, Turkey + Qatar firmly on the other.

Yet after decades of funnelling aid through Mogadishu, arguably with little to show for it, some in Washington reckon Somaliland—and perhaps Puntland—make for more reliable partners than the federal government.

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

The world is beginning to get a sense that all is not well in the federal republic.

 

[peterpeter]

how does on fix somalia though sometimes i think the low pop is a curse makes it hard to deal with kebab they can hide

 

[Medeea]

The world is beginning to get a sense that all is not well in the federal republic.

https://www.economist.com/middle-ea...somalias-state-building-project-is-in-tatters

Looks like I was right. HSM politically sodomized Dani, and the man’s been spiraling ever since. From hijacking ships to now upping the calcaal and crying to his cadaan daddy. Two articles in one day? desperation much?

 

[IKHALIIL]

Looks like I was right. HSM politically sodomized Dani, and the man’s been spiraling ever since. From hijacking ships to now upping the calcaal and crying to his cadaan daddy. Two articles in one day? desperation much?


View attachment 368261

Deni is now asking the fgs to investigate with him. Which sane man asks that?

 

[caano_shaah]

 

[Araabi]

What Somalis (insert pastoralist Somalis) are good at:
Rearing camels, protecting cattle from predatory animals, surviving in the wilderness.

What Somalis are NOT good at:
Governance, law and order, civility, state building.

The quicker everone realises this the better.

 

[peterpeter]

What Somalis (insert pastoralist Somalis) are good at:
Rearing camels, protecting cattle from predatory animals, surviving in the wilderness.

What Somalis are NOT good at:
Governance, law and order, civility, state building.

The quicker everone realises this the better.

then we dont deserve to be a country then, thats a bs argument you force people into these things thats the point

 

[novanova]

What Somalis (insert pastoralist Somalis) are good at:
Rearing camels, protecting cattle from predatory animals, surviving in the wilderness.

What Somalis are NOT good at:
Governance, law and order, civility, state building.

The quicker everone realises this the better.

any people-led state does well or OK. Are u blaming the somali people for the failures of a foreign imposed government filled with warcriminals and ngo leeches??

 

[novanova]

law and order, civility

Somalia is pretty civil for a society thats been without a viable state for three decades.

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

Looks like I was right. HSM politically sodomized Dani, and the man’s been spiraling ever since. From hijacking ships to now upping the calcaal and crying to his cadaan daddy. Two articles in one day? desperation much?


View attachment 368261

Whatever Puntland does has NO impact on the fight with Alshabab in southern Somalia. That is a fight that Hasan Sheekh has lost all on his own. He needed no help from Deni. He attacked Jubaland and try to destabilize it and failed all on his own. He tried to complete the constitution and failed all on his own. He tried to hold municipal elections in Banaadir and failed all on his own.

Total failure of an administration. The country is now worse off than it was in May 2022. None of this is Puntland's fault.

Go ahead and blame Puntland for this:

Despite billions of dollars in international support, Somalia's army has melted in the face of a months-long offensive by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab insurgency, and donors are running out of patience.

Using hundreds of fighters and a vehicle packed with explosives for a suicide attack, Al-Shabaab retook the town of Moqokori on July 7, the latest in a wave of defeats this year for the government.

The government relied on local militias, known as "Macwiisley", for a successful campaign in 2022-23, taking some 200 towns and villages from Al-Shabaab.

But the insurgents' counter-offensive this year has seen them regain some 90 percent of their lost territory, estimates Rashid Abdi of Sahan Research, a think tank.

Towns that were supposed models of stabilisation, like Masaajid Cali Gaduud and Adan Yabal, have fallen. Three bridges along the Shebelle River, crucial to military supply lines, have been destroyed.

The Macwiisley campaign collapsed, he said, because the government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, known as HSM, "was extremely inept at working with the clans", empowering some and not others based on political favouritism rather than military needs.

The government has vowed a renewed military push, but President Mohamud's focus has been on holding the country's first-ever one-man, one-vote election next year.

That "will not happen", said a Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Even in Mogadishu, where security is strongest, "any polling station would get bombed," he said.

"It's unfortunate that attention was shifted towards insignificant political-related matters which do not help security instead of focusing on strengthening the armed forces," ex-president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed recently told reporters.

https://www.barrons.com/news/somalia-donors-losing-faith-as-al-shabaab-surges-7185fe64

 

[Abdisamad]

Whatever Puntland does has NO impact on the fight with Alshabab in southern Somalia. That is a fight that Hasan Sheekh has lost all on his own. He needed no help from Deni. He attacked Jubaland and try to destabilize it and failed all on his own. He tried to complete the constitution and failed all on his own. He tried to hold municipal elections in Banaadir and failed all on his own.

Total failure of an administration. The country is now worse off than it was in May 2022. None of this is Puntland's fault.

Go ahead and blame Puntland for this:





https://www.barrons.com/news/somalia-donors-losing-faith-as-al-shabaab-surges-7185fe64

He will never read what you just wrote and give you sensible reply, just emotional outburst about how federalism is bad and chaos is good.

 

[Midas]

This was one of the main guys they quoted for their article lol
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">My comments to The Economist about our solution to the ISIS threat in Puntland <a href="https://t.co/GDjtZ4Gckn">pic.twitter.com/GDjtZ4Gckn</a></p>&mdash; M.Mubarak (@somalianalyst) <a href="">July 24, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[RiceMuncher]

Any article that qoutes fatboy lobbyist J. Peter Pham has no credibility and it’s an obvious paid for propaganda. Just look at the map in the article. "SSC claimed area" and Somalia is where the Hawiye lives while the rest gets called their State names. Obviously working hard to devide us further.

First month when Trump was elected the paid for articles were saying Somaliland will get recognition, then it was Mogadishu will fall before 15. Ramadan, now we're on to a new chapter. Somalia will continue to stand no matter how hard its enemies both within and outside tries to devide it

 

[Riftvalley]

Any article that qoutes fatboy lobbyist J. Peter Pham has no credibility and it’s an obvious paid for propaganda. Just look at the map in the article. "SSC claimed area" and Somalia is where the Hawiye lives while the rest gets called their State names. Obviously working hard to devide us further.

First month when Trump was elected the paid for articles were saying Somaliland will get recognition, then it was Mogadishu will fall before 15. Ramadan, now we're on to a new chapter. Somalia will continue to stand no matter how hard its enemies both within and outside tries to devide it

Dirty black Zionists

 

[geeljre49]

Looks like I was right. HSM politically sodomized Dani, and the man’s been spiraling ever since. From hijacking ships to now upping the calcaal and crying to his cadaan daddy. Two articles in one day? desperation much?


View attachment 368261

I saw that and automatically exited the page

 

[Zak12]

Somalia is pretty civil for a society thats been without a viable state for three decades.

Somalia has one of the lowest homicide rates in Africa. There are no mass gang problems in any town or city, even the ones in koonfur. You are unironically safer in Mogadishu at night than you are in Capetown or Pretoria.

The qarax Xamar sometimes gets are not representative of Somali society, those are attacks from a non-state actor. Cities like Damascus and Kyiv are also war torn and have seen bombings as well but it doesn't mean those cities are inherently dangerous or stemmed from Syrians or Ukrainians being unable to govern properly.

 

[The Oponian Guild]

What Somalis (insert pastoralist Somalis) are good at:
Rearing camels, protecting cattle from predatory animals, surviving in the wilderness.

What Somalis are NOT good at:
Governance, law and order, civility, state building.

The quicker everone realises this the better.

Puntland is good at both, won’t accept none of that arbitrary pseudo cultural anthropology nonsense. Ironically it has been the densely populated sedentary south which has had problems with law and order and state building