Turkey at the London Conference on Somalia
By Firdevs Robinson.
On 23rd February 2012, a major conference in London thrust Somalia back into the international spotlight.
For the past 21 years, Somalia has been one of the world's worst failed states with chronic famine, violence and piracy. The country has been without a functioning government for decades. Since 2006, parts of the country have been controlled by the militant Islamist group Al-Shabab, which pledged its allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2010. The European Union-backed military force, known as ANISOM, managed to push Al Shabab out of Mogadishu in recent months, considerably weakening the radical group but the al-Qaida sponsored al-Shabab militia still controls vast areas of Somalia. The largely ineffective Transitional Federal Government's mandate is coming to an end in August 2012 and the next six-months are seen as a critical period for Somalia. In fact, recovering from the regional crisis of various kinds, the whole of Horn of Africa will be facing a challenging year.
