hope for stability’

Somali President Sharif Sheik Ahmed

There has been intense fighting between Islamist insurgents and Somalia government forces in western Somalia.

On Monday, local chiefs reported that at least 17 people, mainly combatants, were killed when fighters from al-Shabab, an Al Qaeda-inspired group that controls much of southern Somalia, attacked government forces in the town of Yet on the border with Ethiopia.

But Somalia’s president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, believes al-Shabab are losing support amongst the people.

According to Jeffrey Gettleman of the New York Times, who has recently spent time at the Somali president’s villa, President Ahmed stands the best chance of any recent claimant on power to build a viable functioning government.