The Effectiveness of Legal and Non-Legal Responses in Promoting and Maintaining World Order in Somalia

Since the early 1990’s there has been civil war and anarchy in Somalia. This was caused by the collapse of the communist regime under Mohammad Siad Barre in 1991 and saw the rise of civil and clan conflicts throughout the nation and surrounding regions with the country torn between militias such as the terrorist organisation Al-Shabab, or the factional governments such as Puntland, Somaliland and the internationally recognised government called the Somali Federal Government or the SFG. This has caused the international community to act through both legal and non-legal responses, however not all have been effective with certain major military interventions collapsing and limiting their own effectiveness and certain awareness raising campaigns failing to gain traction due to the presence of different autonomous regions and the limited infrastructure in Somalia.

There have been several major legal and military interventions into Somalia, all of which aimed to maintain world order in the region, each with their own more specific mandates. The first was UNOSOM I (United nations operation in Somalia I) and it was a military intervention sanctioned by the Security Council following the adoption of the UNSC resolution 751 in late-1992. Its two main aims were to support the passage of humanitarian aid as well as monitor the ceasefire which had occurred following several UNSC resolutions being 733 and 746 in early to mid-1992. However, it had limited effectiveness in its execution and enforcement with the ceasefire being ignored in the nation due to several militias and factions speaking out against foreign forces in the region, and with several humanitarian ships and relief carrying vehicles prevented from entering places of need. However it was not completely ineffective as it helped promote world order in the region with the support of the League of Arab States, the Organisation for African Unity and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

Also, following this intervention there was large amounts of support from the United States in order to assist in stabilising and providing aid to the region. This can be seen through UNITAF or the United Task Force, which was a US-led but UN-sanctioned intervention by UNSC resolution 794 and 837. UNITAF was given the mandate to “use all necessary measures” to intervene into Somalia and it was largely effective in both maintaining world order and promoting world order in the region. With over $130 million raised and the demilitarisation of rebel forces within the area, humanitarian relief was provided with greater access to the areas as well. However it wasn’t completely effective with several larger factions still controlling large areas and maintaining their weaponry, with conflict still occurring between them, with no ceasefire or political stabilisation occurring, the region fell back into conflict when UNITAD lapsed.

The 2nd and more recent major military intervention into Somalia was AMISOM or the “African Union Mission in Somalia” that saw peacekeeping forces following the UNSC authorisation of intervention under UNSC resolution 1774 in 2007 and still operates to this very day. AMISOM, however differs from UNITAF in its aim, execution and effectiveness. This has mainly due to the rise of Al-Shabab, a terrorist militia aligned with the infamous Al-Qaeda. AMISOM, to a larger extent is effective in its aim as rather than direct military intervention from outside sources, regional intervention is used. This is because the mission is supported and is part-commissioned by the African Union and thus has greater regional support in the area and would lead to longer term stabilisation. Also, due to the regional implications that have arisen with the growth and push of Al-Shabab, a regional response may be favoured over a foreign force. This can be seen with the pushing of Al-Shabab out of Mogashidu and other important military locations, further showing its general effectiveness.

Following the outbreak of civil war within the region, multiple NGOs were set up or increased their presence, with all aimed at supporting civilians and victims of the conflict. Through this they have formed the Somalia NGO Consortium in 1999 which provides resources to new NGO establishments and supports existing ones with their execution of the support goods and services and their interconnected system. To a  large extent this has been effective in both promoting and maintaining world order, as they provide a platform for promotion through joint advocacy of NGOs, improving representation through “local authorities, the UN system and donors”. For example, the NGO consortium recently had a joint press release that was aimed at the famine in Somalia caused by the conflict. To a large extent it also helps maintain world order as well through the establishment of a structure to cohesively lobby governments and protect established NGOs through their NGO support programme which trains NGO workers for the area.

The civil war also saw many militias and military groups breach human rights of many Somalians. This has seen Amnesty International respond to this crisis through their “Somalia Human Rights” campaign which aims to raise awareness for human rights abuses within the area through the encouragement of establishing regional stability. Amnesty International releases annual reports of Somalia as part of this non-legal world order response and to a large extent has raised much awareness of the human rights abuses, encouraging and supporting the current UNSOM (united nations assistance mission in Somalia) with “human rights monitoring and reporting” as part of its mandate. 


Not all legal and non-legal response have been completely effective with issues such as autonomy within the region and anarchy preventing any stable system to be put in place to maintain world order. However, they are not all completely ineffective either with many campaigns both legal and non-legal raising awareness of the conflict within the area and the necessity for world to be maintained to support civilians and bring peace to this war-torn country.

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