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For the last 15 years the international community has been living under the illusion that the Somalia 's turmoil could only be brought to an end if and when a central government was created for that country. Though non of the successive governments forged for Somalia since 1991 succeeded in taking charge of the country, however the international community's concept toward the settlement of Somalia 's crisis still remained unchanged.
With the government installed in Nairobi one year ago poised to engage itself in a war among its two main factions (Abdillahi Yusuf and prime minister Gedi with loyal cabinet and parliament members based in Jowhar versus the Mogadishu based members of the cabinet and parliament), the international community still believes that the problems of the failed state of Somalia could be best resolved if only an effective government was in place.
Lacking the stamina to call for another peace conference, the international community wants the two rival "Transitional Federal Institutions" to mend their fences and start demonstrating themselves as Somalia 's real government in action.
There has been no doubt that eventually Somalia would need to have an effective government in place in order to put things there back in order. But the problem with the international community's approach in dealing with Somalia has been the insistence on the formation of a government structure without having addressed the crucial issue of national reconciliation first.
At every peace conference, it has been the practice to delegate the emerging government with the task of addressing the question of reconciliation. But Somalia 's warlords once in power, as demonstrated by both the governments formed under the last two internationally brokered peace conferences (Arta and Nairobi ), tend to show no interest in fulfilling their conflict resolution obligations.
The international community's mistakes in its attempts at resolving Somalia 's long conflict is not confined to the obsession with the founding of a government. There has been a lack of commitment by regional and international governments to enforce the arms embargo on Somalia . Some members of the Security Council could have exerted more sufficient pressure on their client governments in the region to stop pouring arms into Somalia .
Perhaps the biggest mistake committed in this respect has been the arrogance of the mediators to consider Somaliland 's home-grown and successful experience in peace making, reconciliation, disarmament, demobilization and governance for application within the context of Somalia . The opportunity for utilizing this self-made Somali experience for the benefit of neighboring Somalia still exists even under the current bleak prospects in the failed state.