Somalia: Future of a Failed State

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki urged exiled Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed on Nov. 22 to quickly form his Cabinet and return to Mogadishu to begin governing. Hours earlier, three people were killed in factional fighting in the Somali capital, highlighting the difficult situation facing Yusuf if and when he returns. Yusuf will return with what amounts to a mandate from the international community to reunify and reconstruct the fractured African nation, but he soon might find it far easier and more beneficial to succumb to secessionist forces.