| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa Horn |
| SomaliaÂ’s future relies on an army that does not yet exist |
| 2013-11-06 |
| The man in the back of the pick-up truck driving along a Mogadishu street is wearing military fatigues with the pale blue starred Somali flag sewn on his sleeve. He may be a soldier in Somalia's national forces -- or he may not. The al-Shabaab militants who controlled the Somali capital before they were routed two years ago have been known to don army uniforms to infiltrate the city, as have common criminals. This is just one of the myriad challenges when it comes to building a viable army in a country that has known little else but war for more than two decades. For over a year now a regular parliament has been in session in Mogadishu for the first time since the collapse of Mohamed Siad Barre's regime in 1991 plunged the country into years of vicious clan fighting. Parliamentarians have appointed a president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who talks ambitiously of putting Somalia on a path towards political and economic stability, and hopes to hold national elections in 2016. |
| Posted by:Steve White |