Topic: Situation in Somalia
Country: North Korea
Delegate Name: Levi Teitel
School: Roeper School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All North Korea position papers GLIMUN 2011 committees
Since the occurrence of the Somali Civil War beginning in 1991, Somalia has no proper government. The Transitional Federal Government only controls a portion of the land of Somalia, while it maintains a staunch, extreme, and militant Islamist legal structure, using shari’a law as its basis. Another Islamist group, the militant Al Shabaab, is an organization whose goal is to overthrow the current Somali government. Currently, the group already controls a majority of southern Somalia. The organization’s territory has only gotten bigger, as outside actors, such as Eritrea, have supported the group’s motives. Somaliland, the northwestern Somali government who self-proclaim to be a sovereign state, also has connections with the Al Shabaab group. During the 2010 elections, the newly elected President Ahmed Mahamoud Silanyo was said to have ties with a large pool of radical Islamic groups, such as Al Shabaab, according to the International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA).
Countries such as Ethiopia have addressed the Somali problem by invading Southern Somalia. Kenya tries to prevent extremist clans from spreading its fighting beyond its borders, and France has been both vocal and monetarily benevolent to Somalia; they have provided training to soldiers, and provided money to NGOs, as have the United States and United Kingdom. At the same time, Nhabaab, a jihadist and a terrorist group, maintains ties with Al Qaeda. The UNSC has also put sanctions on Eritrea because of their financial aid to Al Shabaab, in addition to smaller militant groups.
The DPRK believes that western countries do not have any right to intervene in Somalia; only close African countries should be concerned with Somalia, as other countries should find the topic of Somalia irrelevant. The DPRK supports Somalia sovereignty, even if it is the case that Somalia is split up into pieces by internal forces. this is an issue for the fraternal Somali people to resolve themselves, without Western interference.
