Somalia: Messy and Dangerous

Very nice summary of all the mess that is Somalia from StrategyPage here:

The UN has been unable to muster much direct support (as in peacekeepers, trainers or even a lot of cash) for the Transitional Government. Memories of the hostile experience UN peacekeepers had in the early 1990s are still quite vivid. And the current problems AU peacekeepers are having in Mogadishu simply reinforces those 1990s memories. All the UN has been able to do is deplore the continuing violence. There has been lots of deploring.

Efforts to halt the flow of Iranian weapons from Eritrea to Islamic radicals in Somalia, have failed. Threats of UN sanctions apparently do not bother Eritrea (which is currently run by a paranoid dictator), which blames everything on the United States. Iran denies any involvement, and also blames everything on the United States. The U.S. is supplying most of the food aid for Somalia.

Ah, those Iranian fingers a poking into a lot of pies.