Publication

The closing months of 2009 witnessed an upsurge in international interest in the links between Yemen and Somalia. Both countries were already recognized as trouble spots, with proven potential to threaten international security and a record of association with al-Qaeda. But neither had previously merited concerted Western engagement on the scale of Afghanistan or Pakistan. In the world of counter-terrorism policy, Yemen and Somalia hovered in the margins: not so dangerous as to require direct intervention but still too serious to ignore.