In a country where lawlessness and chaos has been the order of the day for nearly two decades, it seems somewhat quaint to read of the plans to impeach Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf. The country's parliament voted Wednesday to begin proceedings, supporting a widespread belief that Yusuf's government has neared its end. Not that there was ever much hope that it would stabilize Somalia. Yusuf came to power two years ago when it was instaslled with the might of the Ethiopian army and help from the United States, which had hoped that Ethiopia's invasion and Yusuf's assumption of power would prevent an Islamist alliance that had already taken over Mogadishu from rising to national power. It was to be Somalia's first functioning central government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 and then turned on each other. Yusuf, however, proved to be as brutal a leader as anyone on the scene, devoted solely to the interests of his own clan and killing and kidnapping political opponents. Islamist and other forces reacted accordingly until today where Yusuf's forces control only a few blocks of the capital. Ethiopia has announced that it will withdraw its forces from Somalia by the end of the year and international support now seems to have shifted to Yusuf's rival, Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, who has helped broker a peace deal. Yusuf fired Hussein but parliament rejected the dismissal and voted for impeachment. Clearly, the right move is to get rid of Yusuf as he has clearly failed in turning a new page for Somalia. Even with Ethiopean troops occupying parts of the country, the country remains largely lawless, even beyond the notorious pirates that operate from its coastal waters. One obvious solution would be deployment of international peacekeepers to maintain relative calm after the Ethiopians leave, but the UN has been unsuccessful in raising such a force. They may well remember the debacle of US forces sent there by President Clinton in the 90s. Unfortunately, peace in Somalia is likely to remain a distant dream. __
