Fragmented intervention

In this new article in Cooperation and Conflict, Peter Albrecht explores the internal and external dynamics that have shaped and partly fragmented the security sector of Puntland, the largest and most stable region in Somalia (beyond Somaliland).

The analysis centers on attempts by the United Nations to support the Puntland government in reducing numbers of the region’s constitutionally recognized security forces. In this analysis, it is shown how the Puntland government has to balance and negotiate conflicting demands of clan leaders, the global and regional security interests of individual governments, notably the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America, as well as continued pressure from the ‘international community’, formally represented by the UN, to act as a functioning regional centre within a federal Somalia.