Somalia’s Downward Spiral Continues

Last week, the “Transitional Federal Government” (TFG) of Somalia and the rump faction of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) led by Shaykh Sharif Shaykh Ahmad signed a peace deal after United Nations-brokered talks in the neighboring statelet of Djibouti. The accord, inked on August 18th, calls for the withdrawal of the Ethiopian National Defense Force troops which have been propping up the TFG and their replacement with a UN peacekeeping force. Ahmed Abdisalam, the “deputy prime minister” who led the TFG delegation, pronounced the talks “very successful,” a view echoed by Robert Wood, acting deputy spokesman at the United States Department of State, who declared that America “welcomes” the agreement and “reaffirms its support for rapid deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Somalia, and calls on all Somalis who seek peace and stability to support implementation.” Unfortunately, the comity has been less than universal: beginning the day after the peace was announced, a constant barrage of mortars has rained down on Mogadishu’s Villa Somalia, sometime seat of the TFG’s largely-absentee “president,” Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmad, underscoring both the would-be regime’s utter lack of capacity and the consequent likelihood of continued, if not escalating, violence, peace accords and wishful thinking notwithstanding. more.. http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.982/pub_detail.asp

Dr. J. Peter Pham we Terror Free Somalia Foundation agree assessment .. 100% We have only disagreement on issues such as recognition of Somalialand. a touchy subject in our somali community. recognition is matters for somalia community.we should be focused on the big picture . Change can only come to Somalia through reconciliation and mutual trust and respect for one another, and never on greed and clan politics! There's a perception in our somalia community DR J .Peter phan and David Sheen are pay lobbyists from Somaliland (eedoor clan).