SOMALIA - Jan 4 - Lack Of Security Threatens Somalia's Hard-Won Gains.

A hand grenade is tossed into a government army compound in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, in a sign of a growing insurgency. Just days after Ethiopian-led troops helped rout Somalia's once-powerful Islamist forces and install a new government in the capital, there were indications that security was unraveling across the country. The violence is surging on two fronts: anti-government attacks and increased banditry, both of which were mostly unheard of during the Islamists' short reign. Witnesses said that shortly after nightfall, a man in a pickup truck threw a grenade over a wall and into a compound that housed Ethiopian and government soldiers. Apparently, no one was seriously hurt and the pickup truck escaped in a blaze of gunfire. In northern Mogadishu, residents said that four people were killed Jan 3 night after bandits fired a rocket at a truck whose driver refused to pay extortion. Unauthorised checkpoints have popped up all over the city, reminiscent of the years of anarchy when clan-based militias carved up Mogadishu, and much of the rest of Somalia as well. In Dhagtur, in central Somalia, Shabelle radio reported Jan 4 that five people, including two children, had been killed by a tribal militia during a gun battle. A dispute over a well was cited as the possible cause. Despite the increasing bloodshed, the newly empowered transitional government is not slowing down. On Dec 4, PM Ali Muhammad Gedi appointed more than 30 new judges, including two women. "Quite soon, the police stations in Mogadishu will be operational", Gedi said. "If a criminal is arrested, the police will have the access to put the criminal on trial". It sounds simple but since the central government collapsed in 1991, the wheels of justice have rusted over, with few functioning police stations, jails or courts remaining. Gedi also pushed ahead with his disarmament plan, extending the deadline that was set to expire Jan 4 for two more days and threatening house-to- house searches if people did not turn in their guns. In Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, Pres Yoweri Museveni of Uganda said his country was ready to volunteer one battalion - around 800 soldiers - to serve as peacekeepers in Somalia. The AU is trying to put together a peace-keeping force to take the place of Ethiopian troops and lend muscle to the transitional government. The transitional government is still battling the last remnants of the Islamist forces, who have fled to a remote, heavily-forested area in southern Somalia along the Kenyan border. Somali officials said that several hundred Islamist fighters were cornered and that it was only matter of days until the Islamist movement was finished for good.