From 1996 until the middle of 2006, an anarchic equilibrium had sometimes provided safe haven to terrorists operating in East Africa. But in June 2006, an Islamic fundamentalist movement known as the Islamic Courts Union seized control of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, despite an unsuccessful U.S. attempt to strengthen a coalition of warlords against the emerging Islamist threat.

What is at stake in Somalia for the United States and its regional allies, Kenya, Djibouti, and Ethiopia? How likely is Somalia to become a staging ground for global terrorist operations? Is the Somali Islamist movement the manifestation of parochial, clan-based politics, or is it linked to al Qaeda? Can U.S. policy for the region be refocused?

Please join AEI for a conference to discuss these and other questions. Speakers will include Eunice Reddick, director of East African Affairs, U.S. Department of State; Gérard Prunier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) researcher and former director of the French Center of Ethiopian Studies; David H. Shinn, former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, and former director of East African affairs and former coordinator for Somalia policy at the U.S. Department of State; and Ken Menkhaus, former senior advisor to the United Nations Operation in Somalia. AEI’s Mauro De Lorenzo will moderate.