Pressure from the United States and Britain have shut down the two Somali companies that supply Internet access to Somalia. The action also cut off a lot of international telephone access, but there are two other telephone companies in the country that are trying to pick up the slack. For over ten years, Somalia has been ruled by a patchwork of warlords or warlord coalitions. Banditry and anarchy are the rule. The U.S. believes that al Qaeda is taking advantage of this situation to operate out of Somalia, and by shutting down The Somalia Internet Company and al Barakaat, al Qaeda have no easy access to the Internet. Somalis can still get onto the Internet, but have to do it via a long distance call to the nearest country with Internet access.