Somalia and Ethopia Prepare to Face-off

Add this ominous and highly likely scenario to Sudan and Darfur and the Horn of Africa becomes one of the most unstable places on Earth. The combination of Islamists, failed states, oppression, and anti-Americanism and you get a volatile combination that has the potential to spawn regional and international conflict and possible terrorism.

The inevitability of war hangs over Mogadishu, Somalia’s bullet-pocked seaside capital. But unlike the internal anarchy that has consumed the country for 15 years, the looming battle is now with Ethiopia, threatening to further destabilize the troubled Horn of Africa.

In the past week the increasingly militant Islamists in control of Mogadishu and much of the rest of the country have begun a food drive, a money drive and an AK-47 assault rifle drive, and have sent doctors and nurses, along with countless young soldiers, to the front lines.

For its part, Ethiopia, with tacit approval from the United States, has been steadily slipping soldiers across the border, trying to hold off the Islamists and shore up Somalia’s weak, unpopular and divided transitional government.