Somalia: The Scope of International Humanitarian Law in An Evolving History of Conflict

Somalia’s conflict has caused immeasurable suffering to millions of civilians for decades. Since the fall of the Siad Barre regime, scores of innocent men, women and children have been killed, subjected to the gravest forms of torture and brutality, maimed, and lived under the oppression of militias and terrorist groups in a seemingly never-ending armed conflict. The catastrophe has created a refugee crisis with millions of Somali refugees seeking refuge in the neighboring countries of Kenya and Ethiopia while others travel as far as Yemen, South Africa, Europe and the Americas for survival. The Somalia conflict is notably a constantly evolving conflict. While atrocities began during and immediately after the fall of the Siad Barre government in 1991, the current most culpable infringer of human rights and IHL which is the Al-Shabab was only formed in 2006. International response to the scale of the conflict has varied almost as constant as the conflict and its participating actors have. For instance, in the early 1990s the United Nations Security Council had mandated a multi-national force named the United Task Force (UNITAF) to provide security and safeguard humanitarian relief operations. This paved way for the United Nations Operation in Somalian(UNOSOM) mandated by the UNSC to undertake an almost similar mandate. Recently the UNSC mandated the African Mission on Somalia (AMISOM) which lasted a little over a decade and paved way for the AU Transitional Mission in Somalia (ATMIS). The violation of International Humanitarian Law and the commission of human rights abuses has however been a constant throughout the decades of conflict in Somalia.<br><br>This Paper examines the scope of International Humanitarian Law in this constantly evolving conflict. It provides a brief recount of Somalia’s conflicts and frames them in the lens of International Humanitarian Law, in a manner intended to lay foundation for a more robust inquiry of the application of IHL in Somalia’s conflict. The Paper further analyzes the Somalia armed conflict in light of Common Article 2 and Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions to determine to what extent elements of international armed conflict and those of non-international armed conflict have been existent in the decades long conflict in Somalia. The aim of this Paper is to critically analyse the Somalia armed conflict through the various perspectives that underpin the variations and hybrids of armed conflicts. It will illuminate the role of non-state armed groups NSAGs) and offer the reader a critical but balanced outlook on observations, dilemmas and alternative approaches to armed conflicts based on lessons from the Somalia conflict.