The New Yorker on Somalia's Sharif Ahmed

Jon Lee Anderson has an article about Somalia -- specifically, about Somali president Sharif Ahmed -- in this week's New Yorker (sub. required).

As a profile of Ahmed, it's decent, though if you're familiar with Somalia's recent history much of it will be a rehash. Anderson's central question is whether Ahmed is a "viable ally" for the United States; he explores Ahmed's history with the Islamic Courts Union, and his transition from American target to American ally.

As a piece of geopolitical analysis, though, Anderson's story is weirdly unsatisfying. It mentions the piracy problem without exploring the root causes of that problem (fishing rights, for example). It doesn't provide any great detail about the al-Shabab movement. It doesn't really delve into Somalia's relations with its neighbors, except a brief mention of the Ethiopian invasion in 2007.

He ponders whether Ahmed is a viable ally for the U.S. -- but never whether Somalis support his presidency.

The piece feels very cloistered, in other words. He's trapped within the four walls of the presidential compound, Villa Somalia. I guess you could argue that makes it an even more effective profile of Ahmed: Anderson, like the president, only sees and interacts with a small slice of Somalia.

Anderson does mention Thursday's bombing at Benadir University, which one Somali official describes to him as "the worst day" for the Transitional Federal Government. The TFG announced yesterday that it had replaced its military and police commanders.

"After long discussions, the government decided to appoint new commanders for its police and military departments in order to provide security in general," Abdi Hagi Gobdon, a government spokesman, told reporters in Mogadishu, the capital, yesterday.

A spokesman for the police said he expects more suicide attacks to target the government in the future.

The United Nations, meanwhile, told reporters today that Somalia faces a "grave" aid crisis.

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