For the last couple of months the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia has been engaging a relentless barrage of media war against the opposition forces with promise to vanquishing them once and for all .

This media war has recent days taken into frenzy with all the local and international news outlets trumpeting an impending offensive on Al-shabaab and Hisbul-Islam positions.

Time and again we hear news reports from the gov't telling imminent attacks to dislodge opposition fighters from Mogadishu and other major population centres only to see the fighters on the offensive and gaining new grounds.

Despite media flurry little has changed so far on the ground except for an occasional skirmishes with each time govt losing territory.

This constant blustering by the government has left many wondering whether it will ever carry through its threat. The gov't's lack of military action has left many people the impression that it is just blowing hot air and cannot deliver a punch.

Because of its inability to break the circle beyond its 2-km confines, is Sharif's governmentt just resorting to scare tactic and has no teeth?

In fact this apparent weakness of the TFG has now emboldened the opposition into thinking the Western- and Ethiopian-backed authority in Mogadishu as nothing more than a paper tiger.

As it stands now many observers have taken the view the government has exposed itself even more danger by doing nothing more than empty rhetoric. Source close to the opposition say the Resistance forces now have taken the initiative. In recent weeks they have amassed fresh troops and military hardware into the capital for a final assault to remove the regime. Military experts believe Al-shabaab has now the military capability to topple the government.

The current state of affairs of inaction by the government has cast doubt on its ability to alter the situation in any significant way. Military analysts believe that even with the possible help of AMISOM ground forces and US air support it is too late to alter the tide of the war currently in favor of the opposition.

When will this rhetoric stop and we see substance? This war of attrition must come to an end. We must see the victor from the vanquished.  The current situation is not an option.

A. J. Mohamed (Dhiif)

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