To clarify, I think the transitional governement is now in a position where they are completedly dependent on ethiopian troops to defend them, which makes inable to act contrary to ethiopian interests. Which is what "puppet" often means. However, things were not always such. They were formed in exile from different groups in Somalia and thus held support from those groups. I think that the resignations signifies groups droping out of this coalition. Which would mean that their legitimacy on the ground is very weak.

And to clarify even further, the ethiopian government is a pretty ruthless dictatorship but is not a puppet of the US even though they have succedeed in positioning themselves as allies to the US. That gives Ethiopia guns, and the US some say in Ethiopias actions. The Ethiopian involvement in the Somali civil war predates their US support.

("Ethiopia" is here used to signify the ruling clique of Ethiopia, that is Meles and his crowd.)

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