Swift justice, long haul

Somalia | After the rout of the Islamic Courts Union, Mogadishu’s transitional government must move quickly to establish law and order | Priya Abraham

Almost half of the patients at Kenya's missionary Kijabe Hospital are Somalis, and many of them fly in from Mogadishu with a singular problem: gunshot wounds. They are daily tribulations in Somalia, where most men tote AK-47s and other arms. The country has seen 16 years of lawless warlordism and crime.

By contrast, the last six months have brought too much law, as Islamists took power and instilled Shariah rule. Now they, too, have gone, shoved out by Ethiopian forces. What's left are Somalia's feeble interim government and an equally feeble hope that peace may stick this time.

At the hospital, Somali pastor Mohamed Omar Ibrahim has heard general relief from his countrymen about the Islamist defeat. But "if the government does not bring law and order very quickly, people will change their mind," he told WORLD. "We can only talk about today. We cannot talk about tomorrow."