Books by John Prendergast
Somalia Publications
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Apr 10, 2012
While the U.N. declared the famine in Somalia over in February, a third of the country's population still faces a food crisis. The Enough Project reports from Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, where famine conditions were the greatest and most persistent.
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Feb 23, 2012
The February 23 “London Conference”—with representatives from over 50 countries, the U.N., key regional organizations, the Somali Transitional Federal Government, and most of the largest Somali regional administrations and movements—is the subject of considerable anxiety, skepticism, and hope among Somalis. It is widely seen as a critical moment in Somalia’s long 20-year crisis, a meeting that could shape the direction of the country in the coming years, for better or for worse.
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Jan 13, 2012
If the first decade of the new millennium bears a single enduring political lesson,
it is this: Intervention strategies that plan the war but not the peace will fail.
Indifference to or wishful thinking about the crafting of a post-intervention political
order guarantees disorder, and can leave both the occupied country and the
intervening power worse off than before. -
Oct 26, 2011
The international community must temporarily redirect the pressure it is placing on Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, and insist that it focus first and foremost on ensuring unimpeded access to famine victims in its areas of control. In Somalia, 750,000 people are at immediate risk of famine and a total of 4 million—half the total population—needs emergency assistance.
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Oct 3, 2011
Before the end of this year tens of thousands of people in Somalia—possibly hundreds of thousands—are going to die. As Somalis now starve, the militant Islamist group al-Shabaab denies them even the opportunity to migrate in search of food.
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Sep 21, 2011
Somalia is dying. Three-quarters of a million people are at immediate risk of famine; another 750,000 are refugees in neighboring countries, and 4 million – half the total population – is in need of emergency aid.
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May 7, 2009
The Obama administration must not allow the politics of the piracy problem to distract it from putting in place a long-term strategy to help Somalis forge a state that, with measured external support, can fight piracy, promote peace and reconciliation, and combat the threat of terrorism within its borders.
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Feb 9, 2009
President Barack Obama has inherited a dangerous and fast-moving crisis in Somalia—one with profound implications for regional and international security. While some within the new administration will be tempted to continue to place short-term counterterrorism goals ahead of a more comprehensive strategy approach as was done during the Bush administration, the shortcomings of this approach are abundantly clear: violent extremism and anti-Americanism are now rife in Somalia due in large part to the blowback from policies that focused too narrowly on counterterrorism objectives. The new U.S. national security team must make a clean break by defining and implementing a long-term strategy to support the development of an inclusive Somali government.
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Sep 3, 2008
This is the first of two Enough strategy papers on Somalia by Ken Menkhaus, a professor at Davidson College and a specialist on the Horn of Africa. Based on recent field research, the first half of this report provides an analysis of the current crisis in Somalia. The second half critically examines why international policies toward Somalia have produced disastrously unintended results, and makes an urgent case for a review of those policies. A follow-up report will explore options and make recommendations for a new, more effective, international approach to Somalia.
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Apr 24, 2008
It has been almost 15 years since Somali militias shot down two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters over the capital Mogadishu and killed 18 American servicemen in a battle that also killed more than 1,000 Somalis. Since that fateful day in 1993, which had followed decades of American involvement that contributed directly to Somalia’s brokenness, the United States has largely turned its back on the fate of the Somali people. U.S. involvement has been rooted in counter-terrorism efforts in which the suffering of the Somali people has barely been factored beyond the sending of humanitarian band-aids to cover gaping human rights wounds.
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Apr 24, 2008
Read our Activist Brief to learn more about the history of U.S. engagement in Somalia, better understand the crucial crossroad where Somalia finds itself, and how the international community should apply Enough’s 3P strategy for crisis response.
