Somalia's Western-backed transitional government has voted introduce Islamic law in an effort to undermine support for an Islamic insurgency that has gained control over vast areas of the country. The al-Shabab organisation controls all the main cities in the south of the country and has refused to recognise the legitimacy of the UN-backed government. However, several more moderate insurgent groups have promised to stop fighting the government if Sharia Law is formally introduced. Somalia is a deeply fractured country, controlled by powerful warlords, with the UN-backed administration exercising little power outside of its base in the town of Baidoa.