The U.S. Senate is set to debate a resolution calling on the U.S. government to increase its support for "peace, democracy and development in Somalia." Senate Resolution 460 calls on the President, with the  State Department, to develop an "interagency stabilization and reconstruction strategy" for U.S. activity toward Somalia. It further urges the President to appoint a Special Envoy to Somalia to help guide U.S. policy and interests in the region. While U.S. efforts for peace and democracy in Somalia are welcomed, many fear U.S. engagement in Somalia will only lead to continued instability.

In early June of 2006, Islamic militants stormed Somalia's capital city of Mogadishu--site of the 1993 killings of 18 American marines, captured in the movie Black Hawk Down--and wrested control from several allied warlord militias. The U.S. government, meanwhile, was found to be funneling military support to the warlords in a bid to prevent the spread of what it perceived to be radical Islam and terrorism. Understanding the puzzle of Somalia’s current state and charting a responsible U.S. foreign policy, however, require putting the fragmented pieces of Somalia's history back together.

Since 2002, Côte d'Ivoire has been paralyzed by a divide between the rebel-held North and the army-controlled South. The instability began in 1999 when General Robert Guei organized a coup to overthrow the then President Henri Bedie. Guei also instilled religious discord by refusing to allow a Muslim northerner to take part in Presidential elections. The only contender allowed in the election, Ivorian Popular Front (IPF) candidate Laurent Gbagbo, won the election and violence ensued.