A decade of civil war has left Somalia with only the semblance of a government. The Transitional Assembly, subsidized by the United Nations, has only begun to offer such fundamental services as police protection. Private entrepreneurs provide the only phone service, and trash collection is strictly pay-as-you-go, where it exists at all. Services like health care and mail simply are not available from the state.
At the root of the conflict is a power struggle among different clans that owe allegiance to traditional leaders above any government. That makes the very concept of a civil servant–serving all citizens–seem almost irrelevant. When police tried to set up a checkpoint near a warlord’s compound last week, they were repulsed by mortar fire. Handing out parking tickets is years off.
