Book Review: Fighting for peace in Somalia—A history and analysis of the African Union Mission (AMISOM) 2008–2017

• DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211013724
• Date: 01 July 2022
• Author: Paul R. Camacho
• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Subject Matter: Book Review

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X211013724

Armed Forces & Society

2022, Vol. 48(3) 730 –732

© The Author(s) 2021

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Book Review

Book Review

Book Review

Williams, P. D. (2019). Fighting for peace in Somalia—A history and analysis of the African Union

Mission (AMISOM) 2008–2017. Oxford University Press. 366 pp. $34.95 (paperback). ISBN:

978-0-19-885167-7.

Reviewed by: Paul R. Camacho , University of Massachusetts Boston, MA, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0095327X211013724

This book is an excellent and comprehensive examination of the African Union

Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Initially, AMISOM was formed in response to the

emergence of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia, which asked

the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (a coalition

of East African Nations) for assistance. An Islamic religious organization known as

the Union of Islamic Courts gained military control in Mogadishu in 2006. This

created significant concern about their possible cooperation and coordination with

Al Qaeda in East Africa for terrorist operations and served as a rationale for Ethiopia

to intervene, engage, and defeat the Islamic Courts Union. In turn, AMISOM

emerged as a means for Ethiopia to exit after the instillation of the TFG in

Mogadishu as the operative government.

The TFG was succeeded in 2012 by the present Federal Government of Somalia.

The initial AMISOM force structure includes Uganda, Burundi, Nigeria, Ghana, and

Malawi with participation from Kenya (in 2012) and Ethiopia (2014), which became

increasingly dominant actors. AMISOM was mandated tasks beyond peacekeeping,

including war fighting, protection for various political actors, counterinsurgency,

state-building, and support for electoral proces s development. This study of the

African Union’s AMISOM effort provides an excellent contribution toward com-

prehension of critical inputs of peace enf orcement and peacekeeping across the

continent.

The first half of the book presents a sequential narrative of AMISOM efforts.

Williams’ focus on issues challenging operational functions serves as both a prolo-

gue and a segue into the second half of the book, which addresses strategic issues as

points of analysis regarding their location along a continuum of success and failure.

Williams has developed an analytic framework of relevant issues making it inter-

esting for type construction useful to theory development. This review focuses on

that material concerning operational challenges.