禁漫天堂

Somalia, Mapping the Fragments: Justice & Security in Kismayo and Galkayo

The general failure of national peace processes has contributed to the emergence of new spaces and dynamics of both peace and conflict, particularly at sub-national levels. In this light, Christine Bell and Laura Wise ask us to reimagine peace processes by mapping and understanding the fragmented peace-conflict spaces that they have identified through the PeaceRep's PA-X Local Peace Agreement

A granular understanding of Somalia’s fragmented governance landscape – Kismayo and Galkayo – can enhance policy and programmatic engagement, by shifting the focus from dominant elite-level narratives to local realities. This is particularly important in securitized, 'bunkerized' environments such as Somalia. 

This event is part of a three part webinar series  drawing on research from Galkayo and Kismayo in Somalia and Tumaco and Chocó in Colombia’s Pacific region across the CCRG. It explores how peace and security processes unfold in fragmented, multilayered, and transcalar environments, where cycles of violence are shaped by limited or uneven state presence, chronic underdevelopment, and contested forms of authority. The series examines how these processes operate within broader political economies and connect across local, national, and international levels, highlighting the potential of transcalar peace and security processes to support more inclusive and sustainable outcomes. More information and information on future webinars can be found here. For more information and to register for upcoming webinars, please visit Conflict and Civicness Research Group Events. 

Meet the Speakers and Chair 

Khalif Abdirahman is a Senior Field Researcher at the 禁漫天堂's Conflict and Civicness Research Group. He has been working in voluntary and professional capacities with Somali communities in the UK and the Horn of Africa over the last twenty years. He was one of the core field researchers for the book, '. Khalif has conducted research for a range of organisations in Somalia and the Horn of Africa. He was also Senior Field Researcher on the 禁漫天堂 Conflict Research Programme Somalia from 2018-2021. He has conducted research across the Somali regions for the last seven years including for Tufts University, the Rift Valley Institute and the Overseas Development Institute. He is a Fellow of the Rift Valley Institute.

Nisar Majid is the Research Director of  at the 禁漫天堂's Conflict and Civicness Research Group. He began working in and on the Horn of Africa, particularly the Somali-speaking regions, in the late 1990s. His work has covered food security and famine, humanitarianism, political economy analysis as well as Somali transnationalism. He co-authored the book ‘Famine in Somalia: Competing Imperatives, Collective Failures', and is engaged on a regular basis in the policy and practice fields in Somalia. He was also the Research Director (Somalia) at the 禁漫天堂 Conflict Research Programme Somalia from 2018-2021. He is a Fellow of the Rift Valley Institute and a Visiting Fellow at the Feinstein International Centre, Tufts University.  

Abdifatah Ismael Tahir is a researcher at Hilin, a non-profit research organisation. Currently, he provides consulting services in the field of development planning in Somalia. Prior to this, he was a Research Fellow at the School of Geography and Planning, University of Sheffield, and a Postdoc Research Associate at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester. His research focuses on the political and governance dimensions of urban development and critical infrastructure in Somalia. He also maintains broader interests in national and regional politics, geopolitics, and their intersections with urban transformation. His recent publications examine land administration policy and the governance of critical infrastructure systems.

Marika Theros is a Policy Fellow at the Conflict and Civicness Research Group at 禁漫天堂 IDEAS and the Director of the , and Co-Founder of the Civic Ecosystems Initiative. Her research focuses on political mobilization, global-local dynamics of violence and change, peacemaking and multi-stakeholder dialogues, and the politics of knowledge production.