Somalia: The next Afghanistan?
The African country has been without a functioning government for 15 years.
Somalia is a country in tatters. For 15 years it has had no functioning government.
The Transitional Federal Government, backed by the US and Ethiopia, teeters on the edge of collapse.
Its people have been caught in the crossfire between Ethiopian and TGF forces, insurgents, warlords, criminals and US gunships.
In the last two years, at least 10,000 people have been killed.
Almost half of its population – more than 3 million people – are in need of food aid, according to the United Nations.
Although the pirate crisis grabs the headlines, the fact is that for years this African country was left to fester in ungoverned criminality and violence as its society literally disintegrated.
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On Monday Riz speaks to Ahmed Samatar, who teaches political and social thought, the global political economy, and African development at Macalester College in Minnesota. He is the author of Somalia: State Collapse, Multilateral Intervention, and Strategies for Political Reconstruction.
Also joining the show will be Roger Middleton, a specialist on north-east African affairs at the British think tank Chatham House, and author of a detailed report on the threat of the Somali pirates.
Watch this episode live on Monday, December 22, at 2030GMT, with repeats at 0030GMT and 0530GMT.
You can join the conversation. Click on ‘send your feedback’, email riz@aljazeera.net or join our Your Views debates.