Power-sharing may be the answer to Somalia's political crisis, Latin Americans recruited for protection in conflict zones, will the world's water really run out, and what photos to use in an emergency?

What does Somalia's cabinet reshuffle mean?

Since powerful Islamists took control of Somalia's capital Mogadishu in June, fears have grown of a direct confrontation between the militia and the weak interim government based in Baidoa.

But a peaceful solution could still be reached, according to Suliman Baldo, International Crisis Group's Africa programme director, and the appointment of a new slimline cabinet on Monday is a necessary step in that direction.

The previous cabinet became untenable after Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi only just scraped through a no-confidence vote at the end of July and then saw half the ministers in the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) quit in anger at his unwillingness to negotiate with the Islamists.

It's not that the new cabinet represents radical change. Two-thirds of its ministers were also in the old cabinet. Neither have any Islamists been appointed, despite calls from some legislators to include them.

Yet Baldo told AlertNet the appointment of the new cabinet is positive because it suggests that splits within the TFG have been reconciled - at least for now - and the government may hold together for long enough to start serious negotiations with the Islamists.

Last week, these talks were postponed until the end of August after the Islamists asked for more time - a move that some said was aimed at giving themselves time to prepare for possible clashes with the government and Ethiopian troops who are in Somalia to protect it.

But Baldo is relatively optimistic the talks will take place. "Each of the parties has something to gain," he said. "The Islamists need the recognition of the international community and they won't get that unless they enter a political process that could lead to some kind of power-sharing and legitimacy."

As for the TFG, Baldo believes it would likely come out the loser in any direct military confrontation with the Islamists, despite Ethiopia's backing.

Baldo says the only sustainable way out of the stalemate is for the two sides to start a dialogue that leads to the formation of a "government of national unity". Concessions on the part of the TFG could include appointing a new prime minister acceptable to the Islamists and the broader Hawiye community (from which their base is drawn) and giving their rivals representation in a transitional parliament.

So far both sides have been flexing their military muscles (with the Islamists looking decidedly more macho), but Baldo is doubtful that either has the appetite for a real showdown. "I don't see them rushing into violence because the cost would be too high," he said.

For more background on what's at stake and who's backing who in Somalia, check out Crisis Group's latest report on the crisis.

Megan Rowling
AlertNet journalist

Latin Americans: the new cannon fodder?

In the United States, Latinos tend to do the work Americans don't want to do - whatever anti-immigration politicians might say about job-stealing. Now, it seems, they're helping fight their wars for them as well.

According to a Reuters report from Peru, poor Latin American security guards are flocking to Iraq and Afghanistan to work for U.S. security companies desperate for cheap manpower.

The Private Military Companies (PMCs) and Private Security Companies (PSCs) are particularly keen on Latino personnel, given their invaluable experience in fighting both nasty guerrilla wars and combating ultra-violent crime.

Think about it. Are Sunni insurgents or Afghan heroin traffickers really that frightening when you honed your skills fighting Peru's brutal Shining Path movement in the 80s, and perfected them in the 90s running protection against drug cartels and sadistic kidnap rings?

"A Peruvian in Baghdad will not panic if he has to face a blast or a blackout because he has already faced that on the streets of Lima," says Alejandro Fernandez, a Lima-based recruiter for Triple Canopy, a U.S. security company active in Iraq.

Private security firms pay Latin Americans salaries of $1,000 to $2,000 a month. While that's a fraction of the sums U.S. and European security agents can expect to earn, it's a small fortune for many Latinos.

Still, local rights groups in Peru are increasingly concerned that they are being drafted in as little more than cannon fodder.

"These jobs are incredibly dangerous, and while salaries might be high compared to what they earn here, it is not clear if they are receiving proper protection," says Peruvian rights activist Rosa Quedena.

Local papers are also reporting evidence of serious psychological problems, including post-traumatic stress, among returned personnel.

All of which brings us to the crux of the private security problem. Some companies may look after their staff, some may not. Some enforce sensible rules of engagement, others are off the reservation - whatever they do, there's no oversight.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been pointing out for some time that PMCs and PSCs fall into something of a legal vacuum. Although they are technically bound by the Geneva Conventions, their status is still vague, as is any framework for punishing abuses.

Not quite subject to any law, either international or domestic, they blur the distinction between the military and civilian actors - great for their shareholders, it would seem, but not so great for the ordinary people they engage with, including some of their poorer employees.

Water, water everywhere ... just plug the leaks

In the beginning was the debate over climate change. The earth is warming, said the environmentalists. No it's not, said the sceptics.

And then there was water. It's all going to run out, we'll fight wars over it, and millions will flee their homes in search of it, said the experts.

"Baloney," retorts Asit Biswas, head of the Mexico-based Third World Centre for Water Management.

Biswas challenges the conventional wisdom on water shortages by insisting there's actually plenty of the stuff to go round. It's how we handle it that's the problem.

Addressing a conference in Stockholm to mark World Water Week, the Indian-born Canadian insisted that there's too much focus on pricey dam-building schemes and projects to divert rivers, all in a bid to increase water supply.

What we should be doing, quite simply, is plugging the leaks instead.

"In nearly all the megacities nearly 40 to 60 percent (of water) never reaches the consumer," said Biswas, whose research has earned him the $150,000 Stockholm Water Prize.

"It is cheaper to fix your leaks, improve your maintenance systems which you can do in a couple of years rather than build a dam 200 kilometres away," he was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Biswas is under no illusions about the increasing demand for water, particularly from China. But he told the conference that any future crisis would not be about availability. It's quality we should be focusing on.

According to a Reuters report, the Chinese government is planning to spend an astonishing $125 billion on urban water management over the next five years, including sewage works, pipes and desalination plants.

That may seem like a lot, but there are two issues here. First, governments can cite any figures they like about what they plan to do in the future. Numbers don't necessarily mean meaningful action. Second, almost half of all waste water in China's rapidly growing cities is dumped untreated into rivers and lakes.

In a country of 1.3 billion people, that's a hell of a lot of effluent.

Mark Snelling
AlertNet journalist

Pictures of atrocious things

There's a whole debate about the best pictures for aid agencies to use.

Does a photo show people as victims? Does it reinforce a stereotype - of Africa, for example? Are those pictured actively helping themselves?

Relief organisations often ask themselves these questions, but they usually forget to think about the ethics of who the photographer is. There's an argument that buying photos from people working in their own countries is a better way of distributing wealth than paying an international photographer to jet around the world.

A new website - majorityworld.com - has been set up to provide a platform for local photographers, and to help find a way around the big obstacle: getting in touch with the right person in the right place.

The new website has been set up by the Drik Picture Library in Bangladesh and African Pictures from South Africa, in collaboration with kijijivision.org, a British-based organisation concerned with promoting indigenous photography.

Soul-searching since the late 1980s about stereotyped photos led to the development of voluntary standards on the use of images in charity fundraising. But some experts say fierce competition among aid agencies has led to a resurgence in shock tactics that critics call "development pornography".

If you're really into disaster pictures, there's another website you might want to know about: www.photographyandatrocity.org. This project has its roots in a conference of photographers, museum curators and writers including Rwanda experts Philip Gourevitch and Samantha Powers.

Ruth Gidley
AlertNet journalist