Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, president of Somalia since January, landed in office with a weak hand and a seemingly impossible task.

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in Mogadishu: he says there has been a lack of leadership in his country

He controls only fragments of Somali territory and even these are vulnerable to attack by Islamist militias (once his allies). To extend the writ of the trans­itional government and restore stability and services he must neutralise warlords, insurgents and now pirates responsible for turning Somalia since 1991 into the archetype of state failure. Yet he has few basic tools of state to hand.