NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A weak government is likely to thwart security efforts in Somalia despite pledges from the transitional government, an analyst said.
Somalia is facing twin threats of al-Qaida affiliates with al-Shabaab and insurgents with Hizbul-Islam. Clashes during the first week of October left at least 50 people dead and another 174 wounded.
The transitional government in Mogadishu controls only a small fraction of the Somali capital. Its authority was weakened last month when Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke stepped down as prime minister because of political differences with the president and instability in the beleaguered country.
Somali Interior Minister Abdulkadir Ali Omar told the United Nations' humanitarian news agency IRIN that Somali President Sharif Ahmed would appoint a new prime minister who would help bring security to the country.
"The president will appoint a new PM who will assemble a new, smaller and more effective Cabinet with the ability to deal with problems facing the country," he told IRIN. "The priority will be security."
But Michael Weinstein, a Somali expert at Purdue University, told IRIN that the transitional government will likely remain weak regardless of the leaders.
"I expect the structural divides in the (transitional government) to persist, regardless of who is named as the new PM," he told IRIN.
