The Man in the Middle.(Hassan Abshir Farah)(Brief Article)(Interview)

Hassan Abshir Farah may have the hardest job in the world. Barely two months ago, the 56-year-old was named prime minister of Somalia's Transitional National Government. A former ambassador to Japan and Germany, Farah also served as mayor of Mogadishu under Somalia's last government before the collapse of the state in 1991. Last year he chaired the only successful peace process Somalia has had in a decade of anarchy, actively working to bring the country's warring clans together to elect a Parliament and a president. His administration, which is limited to parts of the capital Mogadishu, now faces the prospect of a U.S. military intervention to root out alleged terrorist cells linked to Al Qaeda. U.N. officials have disputed the existence of a Somali terror network, privately accusing Ethiopia, Somalia's neighbor and historic enemy, of generating misinformation to further its own designs in the region. Recently Farah spoke to NEWSWEEK's Lara Santoro in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, about the likelihood that his country could become the next target in the American war on terrorism. Excerpts:

SANTORO: There has been a lot of talk about a U.S. military intervention in Somalia. American ships are already patrolling the coast, partly to monitor a recent influx of Arabs from the gulf, possibly Al Qaeda fugitives seeking sanctuary in the lawlessness of Somalia.

FARAH: We welcome a naval presence: our coast is the longest in Africa and we cannot control it. We want the U.S. to help us monitor who is coming in and out. We have [also] formed an antiterrorist force. One of their tasks is to identify and register all these foreigners and investigate their legal status. Already, there has been an intensive investigation. We have arrested many foreigners in Mogadishu, and we have held eight of them [five Iraqis and three Syrians].

Who's been arrested?

Some of them are Arabs, two of them are Turkish. They say they are businessmen, but we are checking. The problem is our resources are so limited. We need the U.S. to assist us, not to strike us.

You can't monitor the coast but many of these so-called foreigners are apparently flying in from different cities in the gulf. ...