Somalia: Manifestation of stealth trusteeship http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/72335

Somalia is currently under what James Fearon and David Laitin of Stanford University call ‘a neo-trusteeship system’. Various external powers, while disagreeing among themselves, make the important decisions for the Somali people.On 30 January 2011, the Ethiopian-dominated Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional organisation comprised of seven East African states, called for an extension of the Somali parliament's mandate. The dysfunctional Somali parliament duly understood the message sent by Addis Ababa and within three days unilaterally extended its mandate for three years.

In 2006, the Islamic Courts Union pacified Mogadishu with a militia of less than 1,000 people. Now, in theory at least, the AMISOM has close to 10,000 troops in Mogadishu, while the TFG claims to have more than 15,000. But even with these forces at their disposal they have failed to pacify Mogadishu, let alone the rest of the country.It is a public secret that there are many ghost soldiers in the Somali forces and the tribal militias they use. But what about the AMISOM forces - are all of the 8,000 to 10,000 peacekeepers in Mogadishu also ghost soldiers?

ETHIOPIAN MEDDLING Ethiopia's meddling remains one of the principal obstacles to attaining and sustaining peace in Somalia.Addis Ababa, as it did in the past, has now created proxy militias, which it supports financially and militarily. It is openly involved in the war against al-Shabab in the central and southern regions of Somalia. And while there is wide opposition to al-Shabab, Ethiopian involvement in these operations does not have public support. If Ethiopia's past role in Somalia is anything to go by, Zenawi is essentially interested in establishing his proxy groups in those regions so that he can use them to sabotage efforts to re-establish the Somali government.

[The UN itself has been the problem DR. IT APPOINTED THE ILLIGITIMATE TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT(TWICE!),WICH ABOUT A MONTH AGO ALLOWED ETHIOPIAN TROOPS TO STATION AND RE-ENTER MOGADISHU AT TGF BEQUEST..GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT...A STRONG CENTRAL GOVERNMENT ANSWERABLE TO UN?THE UN IS THE PROBLEM.,ITS PUPPET TRANSITIONAL FRONT MEN ARE THE PROBLEM...