Government near to collapse, says Somalia leader

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Government near to collapse, says Somalia leader
• Islamists control most of country, president admits
• MPs urged to return as insurgents near capital

Xan Rice in Nairobi
guardian.co.uk, Monday November 17 2008 00.01 GMT
The Guardian, Monday November 17 2008

President Abdullahi Yusuf of Somalia has admitted
that his government is on the verge of collapse and
that Islamist groups now control most of the country.

In a speech to Somali MPs gathered in the Kenyan
capital Nairobi at the weekend, Yusuf said that the
government only had a presence in the capital
Mogadishu and in Baidoa, "and people are being killed
there every day. Islamists have taken over everywhere
else."

His frank admission confirms what is known but seldom
publicly acknowledged by those with a stake in
Somalia's future, from Ethiopia, whose continued
occupation unites the different Islamist groups
against a common enemy, to the UN and western
countries, which have backed the warlord-heavy
government for years.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/17/somalia-government-islamists-insurgents-news

[thunder rising]

1. ahh, it's nice to see our last nation building victim doing so well.