Bronwyn Bruton - Doing Less Could Help More in Somalia

The world awaits news of an expected major government offensive in Somalia against a radical Islamist movement known as the Shabaab. But despite the combined efforts of the international community to strengthen and defend the country's notional Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the offensive is unlikely to bear fruit. The odds of the TFG emerging as an effective body are extremely poor. In fact, international support of the weak TFG has perversely only served to isolate the government, and to propel cooperation among previously fractured and quarrelsome extremist groups. The United States urgently needs to consider other policy options with the expectation that the TFG's leadership will fail or continue to be marginalized to the point of powerlessness.

Bronwyn Bruton, author of the Council on Foreign Relations Report, Somalia: A New Approach, will offer an analysis of U.S. interests in Somalia, including piracy, humanitarian issues, and counterterrorism concerns, and will suggest that the U.S. should adopt a radically different strategy for combating the threat of terrorism in Somalia.