the past
year whereas it had controlled the majority of south Somalia for the three
years or so prior.

There was a shit ton of military action and natural disasters such as the
drought affecting this area, so certainly this part of the country is no
utopia.

The other parts of the country is like another world. As al-Shabaab has lost
ground in the south, they have moved some operations to the divided city of
Galkayo. 1/3 of the city is controlled by the south and whatever Transitional
Government is ruling now while the other 2/3 of the city is part of Puntland.
This is about the extent of violence in Somalia. Coincidentally, the 2/3 of
the geographical area of Somalia besides south of Galkayo.. the Horn and
Somaliland, are relatively peaceful with only a dash of violence spreading
from the-
the law in England moved out of the church and Xeer appears to have been born
out of the reigning power in Somalia (elders) and remained therein.

I'll take the English common law and equity any day of the week - flexible
where it needs to be so it's capable of applying concepts of natural justice
constrained by well established principle, while still providing vital
certainty as to the law. This passage in the wikipedia article makes the legal
scholar in me shiver:

"The lack of a central governing authority means that there is a slight
variation in the interpretation of Xeer amongst different communities"

Dealing with conflict of laws without prejudicing parties in an international
setting is hard enough: imagine having to pursue justice according to
discrepancies between individual communities! Better have some cast-iron
choice-of-law clauses in those trade