UN successors abandoned direct diplomacy, deepening mutual mistrust with Somali factions.

Evidence

The importance of re-empowering traditional community leaders in the country at large was strongly urged on U.N.O.S.O.M. by the Swedish-based ‘Reference Group’ (which the author, at the U.N.’s request, helped to establish at the beginning of the operation). This small international group of social scientists with Somali expertise met from time to time with Muhammad Sahnoun and subsequently other U.N. officials. We tried to emphasize the uncentralized character of the Somali segmentary politcal system. In our view this necessitated a ‘bottom-up’ rather than a top-down, hierarchical approach to understanding the Somali situation. U.N. officials, with their cumbersome, extremely hierarchical system, found this very hard to understand, far less apply. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 898 (#expands, via linked claim)

As a former Egyptian Foreign Minister, the U.N. Secretary-General was far from ignorant of the Somali scene. Somalis, however, tended to see him as pursuing Egyptian interests based on the Egyptian obsession with the Nile waters and recurrent concern about Christian Ethiopia. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 903 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Following menacing media statements and rumours from U.S. sources, in anticipation of an impending American attack, the contending factions vied with each other in declaring their innocence of fundamentalist connections while accusing their rivals. T.N.G. president ‘Abdulqassim announced his eagerness to collaborate with the US in hunting down terrorists (and, with an eye to American tastes perhaps, even managed to round up a few unconvincing suspects in the shape of four or five Iraqi cooks). The S.S.R.C. went even further in calling for international military intervention to deal with radical Islamic groups, pointing a finger at the Arta group. Of course, as we have seen, there were some fundamentalist figures in the T.N.G. and elsewhere in Mogadishu and, as the city was subjected to menacing, low-flying U.S. surveillance operations, Somalis jokingly reported how many residents had prudently shaven off their beards and disappeared into the bush. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 699 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: UN diplomats’ ignorance and indirect diplomacy deepened their isolation from Somalis; Somali factions used the terror threat to denounce each other rather than unite — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 699; Somalis distrusted the UN Secretary-General as pursuing Egyptian regional interests — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 903 (+2 more)

Related

• UN diplomats’ ignorance and indirect diplomacy deepened their isolation from Somalis (similarity 0.91)
• Somali factions used the terror threat to denounce each other rather than unite (similarity 0.85)
• The UN’s hierarchical structure prevented it from applying a bottom-up Somali approach (similarity 0.84)
• Somalis distrusted the UN Secretary-General as pursuing Egyptian regional interests (similarity 0.84)
• Somalis and international forces held mutually incompatible expectations of the intervention (similarity 0.83)
• The UN served as a propaganda arm disguising the Transitional National Government’s failures (similarity 0.79)
• Somalia’s neglect of public diplomacy undermined its Ogaden case (similarity 0.79)
• The UN abandoned clan elder empowerment in favor of warlord dealings. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• The UN’s hierarchical structure prevented it from applying a bottom-up Somali approach #expands (0.60) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 898
• Somalis distrusted the UN Secretary-General as pursuing Egyptian regional interests #complicates (0.55) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 903
• Somali factions used the terror threat to denounce each other rather than unite #expands (0.50) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 699
• Somalia’s neglect of public diplomacy undermined its Ogaden case #expands (0.45) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 580