Engaging Extremist Organizations: Contextualizing Al-Shabaab in Somalia. Paper by Muliru Yoni

The paper analyses the ignored opportunity to negotiate with non-state armed groups in the Horn of Africa. It explores the challenges caused by the continuous branding of these organizations into terrorist entities. The document reviews all the challenges from a policy perspective to the community perspective with a specific emphasis on the moral dilemma of such engagements. The paper also looks at the organizational stages of extremist organizations using Al-Shabaab in the Horn of Africa. It concludes with a call to action requesting regional institutions to explore the mechanism of engaging with Al-Shabaab for a lasting solution to the challenges in Somalia.