Somalia's Transitional Federal Government at a Crossroads

As a budding state apparatus, Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has so far failed to bring about any significant change and is in dire need of reform if it is to have any success. The international community lacks a comprehensive long-term policy towards Somalia. This has led to short-term engagement and one-sided policies that have often caused more harm than good. Several attempted military interventions have shown that military action by itself cannot re-establish Somalia as a viable and stable country. Remedying Somalia’s problems will require coherent long-term actions by external actors in the fields of development and reconstruction, avoiding military interventions by neighbouring states, and reforming the TFG to make it more able to fulfil the expectations of a warfatigued Somali public.