War-ravaged Somalia takes a big step towards normality

As the yearUN IMF draws to a close, Somalia’s rulers may be forgiven for a moment of celebration. After decades of bad news— and a decades-long are just the most recent horrors to ravage this corner of the Horn of Africa—the government of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Somalia’s president, has passed three milestones in as many weeks.On November 24th it was welcomed into the East African Community, Africa’s most integrated regional bloc. A week later the Security Council voted to lift an arms embargo first imposed on Somalia’s government and its security forces in 1992. Finally, on December 13th, creditors led by the and the World Bank announced $4.5bn in debt relief, paving the way for Somalia’s re-entry into the global financial system three decades after the central state collapsed amid fighting between clan warlords. Together this marks a victory for Mr Mohamud, who began his second term last year promising to repair relations with Somalia’s neighbours while beating back al-Shabab, the al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group that still controls swathes of the countryside outside the capital, Mogadishu.