New Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has vowed to work quickly to revive public confidence in the country's ill-disciplined national army and confront the rising strength of armed Islamic insurgencies. The need for competent armed forces has grown particularly acute since Ethiopia withdrew its troops in January (Ethiopian troops entered Somalia in 2006, spurred by the United States, to depose an Islamic government that had imposed sha-riah law on the nation). While the president has promised publicly to "form forces that will earn the confidence of the people", the problems facing the Joint Security Forces (JSF) are multifold. One problem is the fact that some 80 per cent of the country's police and soldiers - around 15,000 personnel - have deserted with their weapons, uniforms and vehicles, according to a UN report released in December 2008. The report added that most of the weapons are likely to have been passed to any one of the insurgent groups.
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