August 2, 2006: The Transitional Government is falling apart. About a quarter of the cabinet ministers have resigned. The various tribal and warlord factions that comprise the government cannot agree on a common policy, so the factionalism is causing the government to come apart. While there are Ethiopian troops in the Transitional Government capital of Baidoa, all these soldiers have done is keep Islamic Courts gunmen from overrunning the place.
It looks like the end for the Transitional Government. But the United States, and several of its allies, don't want the Islamic Courts to take over the country and create a safe haven for Islamic Terrorists. But nothing has been decided on what to do about this, and when. Yet.
August 1, 2006: Another Islamic Court was established some 600 kilometers north of Mogadishu, the northernmost Islamic Court so far. The court consists of clerics acting as judges, and several dozen gunmen to back up the judges. The locals prefer the Islamic Courts to the capricious behavior of some local warlord.
July 30, 2006: Pirates released a South Korean fishing boat, and its crew, apparently after a ransom was paid.
July 28, 2006: A minister in the Transitional Government was shot dead as he entered a mosque in Baidoa. In Mogadishu, another large transport landed at the airport, apparently carrying weapons.