‘Opportunities for Peace in Kismayo, Somalia,' is the latest in our series of ‘Local Voices for Peace’ reports, the aim of which is to raise the profile of civil society perspectives on peace and conflict.
Somalia has experienced over 30 years of armed conflict and violence, creating one of the most complex, multidimensional security crises in the world. The violent civil war that led to state collapse in 1991 has divided the country into a patchwork of fiefdoms fought over by warlords and armed groups, killing tens of thousands, displacing millions and creating a war economy that has shaped political dynamics since.
This report presents the findings of Peace Direct’s first Peace Exchange workshop in Kismayo, a practioner-led conflict analysis workshop bringing together 24 representatives from grassroots peacebuilding organisations from within Kismayo. The main objective of the workshop was to provide a forum where local peacebuilding organisations could discuss the drivers of conflict, the key challenges to peace in Kismayo, and to collect information on best practice in local peacebuilding to identify successful peacebuilding initiatives within Kismayo.
