The UIC might be in the process of crumbling.

According to residents in Mogadishu, the leaders of several major clans — and some businesspeople who had been financing the Islamists — demanded that the Islamist leaders return the armed pickup trucks that had been lent to the movement.

Faced with the loss of support from their counterparts, other clan leaders saw the coalition begin to crumble and withdrew their trucks as well, leaving little of the organized force that once lent the Islamists their power.

Now we learn that the technicals had been "lent" to the UIC, not handed over permanently. The media left out this key piece of information when they reported the handover months ago.

It will be interesting to see what kind of new militias form in light of recent reports that Islamic militiamen have begun changing out of their UIC uniforms (they still have their rolodexes, right?). Another question is: are the clan leaders and businesspeople prepared to put their newly reacquired technicals to use against the Ethiopians and the TFG? Alternatively, will they sell them (if so, to whom?), put them into storage, or perhaps dismantle them? Or are they hoping to get some sort of compensation if and when they have to surrender them to the Ethiopians/TFG?