Somalia will also be a challenge for Obama (Today's Zaman, TURKEY)

It is widely assumed that President-elect Barack Obama will face serious challenges in foreign policy when he takes over. Among those challenges, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Russia stand out most.

However, it is almost certain that a small country in Africa will pose a considerable and difficult challenge for the next president.

This country is, of course, Somalia, which has dominated the international agenda for some time now due to increasing piracy threatening international trade. It is for this reason as well as a fear of increasing chaos that the US took the matter to the UN Security Council this week to try to enlist its support for two resolutions on Somalia.

The first resolution, drafted by the US, concerned land and air operations against the pirates. After overcoming serious misgivings among Security Council members, the US won a unanimous 15-0 endorsement last Tuesday for this resolution, Number 1851(2208), which authorizes countries fighting piracy off the Somali coast to take all necessary actions in Somalia's territory and its airspace for one year, subject to consent by the country's federal government.

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