Al Shabaab forces are incompetent to a degree I never thought possible. Their military strategies are useless, they can't govern, and they don't even have the firepower to withstand AMISOM or the newly trained Somali National Army. They can only resort to hit-and-run attacks, but even these strategies will inevitably decrease over time as peace and security are established, God-willing. Let's just hope the Somali politicians don't destroy this golden opportunity

I was deeply offended when the author of the article claimed that the Somali nation didn't exist before the 1200's, and that we are the product of Arab men intermingling with the local African women. I suggest this man does his research before making such a ridiculous claim. Shame on the Financial Post for publishing this pathetic article. As if the existence of Somaliland or Somalia is the main root of the problem. I do recall Somalis were fighting each other WITHIN Mogadishu. Does he suggest that we break up Mogadishu as well?

Young Somalis living in Britain/United States are often emulating the wrong types of role models, and then when they are sent to Somalia they end up corrupting the locals to their way of thinking. I've met several young Somali men who BRAGGED to me about how they used to charm the local Somali girls into sleeping with them (telling those poor naive girls that they loved them, they were going to bring them back to Europe, take care of the girls, etc.) My brother knew this one Somali man who actually impregnated a local Somali girl and then he flew back to Europe, leaving her alone with the child. There are some dhaqancelis who are a positive force, but I believe more often than not, they bring nothing of value to their ancestral homeland

Dahir Aweys is a classic example of a man who is willing to take any position he feels is necessary to gain power. He has no principles and no consistency. All he is interested in is POWER. I'm strongly reminded of IndhaCadde whenever I look at him. He represents the very worst of what Somalia has to offer, and if a solid government is established he should be imprisoned for life. We don't need these kind of men to lead our society.

Well Somalia needs all the people it can get, in the future. We have Ethiopia (80 million people) on 1 side, and Kenya (40 million people) on the other side. I've flown over Somalia, and the one thing that shocked me about the country was how EMPTY it was. You might be able to see a small house every 100 miles. We don't have an over-population problem at all. We just suffer from a crippling inability to take care of our people. Entire Somali families relying on remittances from the USA/Europe is unsustainable. If the current leaders are smart, they can use Somalia's extremely young population towards something useful (nurturing young industries, investment in education, agriculture). Somalia can easily handle 60 million people...We're 3 times larger than Britain in land-size and Britain has around 60 million people. By the time Somalia's living standards rise and people start earning a decent wage, the fertility rate is going to drop MASSIVELY. The Europeans used to have like 6 children/family just 150 years ago, and people seem to be forgetting this

What I don't understand is when I meet dozens of Somalis who feel the need to change their birth-name into something unrecognizable. For example, I know this one woman who calls herself "Bint Abu Umar" or some guy named "Bin Khalid" or something along the lines of this. And when I address them by their birth names they insist on being called by their new names. I've heard of quite a few people living in places such as Saudi Arabia going along with these names, but this is something alien to me