Somalia is headed to the Islamists...

Ominous news from Somalia.

The African front line in the West's war on terrorism has collapsed as mass resignations from Somalia's fragile government have all but handed power to hard-line Islamists.

Twenty senior officials quit the United Nations-backed transitional administration this week. That brought to 39 - a third of the government - the number who have abandoned the struggle to stabilise the country and ward off the threat of an Islamist regime giving succour to al-Qa'eda in east Africa.

All have left office in protest at the way Ali Mohamed Gedi, the prime minister, has handled the stand-off with Islamic militants now in control of most of southern Somalia.

The Islamists' leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, has invited the defectors to join his increasingly powerful Mogadishu-based alliance of hard-liners, the Supreme Islamic Courts Council.

The prospect of the wholesale collapse of Mr Gedi's government has sent shockwaves through the Horn of Africa, where many people blame a botched attempt by the United States to oppose the Islamic militia. Washington has denied that it backed a loose alliance of warlords and businessmen that opposed the militia but lost the battle for control of Mogadishu in June.

That defeat paved the way for the militia to sweep through the south of the country, imposing sharia law, closing down cinemas and banning fans from watching football.