The rapid rise of Somalia’s Islamist militias has prompted a flurry of diplomatic efforts to stabilize the troubled country in the Horn of Africa. Earlier this week, the African Union and Western diplomats decided to send officials to Somalia to assess the possibility of deploying a peacekeeping force to a country ripped apart by 15 years of anarchy. That has the backing of President Abdullahi Yusuf, head of Somalia’s virtually impotent transitional government, who flew to Ethiopia Tuesday to demand speedy intervention. Full Story