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June 5, 2006

Somalia: Islamic Courts Claim Victory Over Mogadishu

News from Associated Press via Yahoo, the Jerusalem Post, CNN, Santa Barbara News Press, MSNBC and ABC, as well as from Reuters, the BBC, the Guardian, the National Post and Sky News reports that Mogadishu appears, finally, to have fallen to the militia of the Islamic Courts.

We reported on May 26 that the Islamist militia were making ground in the capital of Somalia, and were targeting areas known to be governed by warlords. Since then, on Saturday, May 28, at least 30 people died in the fighting between anti-Islamist forces (the ARPCT or Alliance for Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism) and militias tied to the Union of Islamic Courts.

On Monday, May 29, even though there was a lull in the fighting, the anti-Islamist fighters of the Anti-Terror Alliance occupied Mogadishu's main hospital, and appeared to be denying access to patients who had been wounded in fighting.

A senior Alliance member explained: "Our aim is not to take the hospital but to protect it from the Islamic courts militia that could prevent people from getting medical aid. The courts planned to take the hospital and turn it into an Islamic hospital and that is what we are against. Our fighters took no patients, looted nothing and did not interfere with the hospital's business."

On Wednesday May 31, the Islamists, who are said to have links with Al Qaeda, moved 20 miles north of Mogadishu and were fighting outside the town of Balaad, a town controlled by a warlord within the Alliance.

On the same day, June 1, the Islamist militia took their battle to Mogadishu's livestock market, where three combatants were killed and seven injured. The BBC reported that following morning prayers, the Islamists hid under plastic sheeting inside a truck and passed through the first defensive position of the Alliance fighters. Backed up by 30 vehicles, they soon seized control of the area, as well as a vital checkpoint along the road linking the city to the central regions.

South Africa's Mail & Guarrdian reported that the worst fighting in the capital of Mogadishu on Wednesday took place Sukahola, in the north-east, where 13 people were killed.

On Thursday, Sukahola, and its neighbouring regions of Daynile and Sisi were largely deserted, as civilians had fled the fighting there. Fighting on Thursday again took place at Balad, outside the capital, and also at El Arfid on the outskirts of Mogadishu. Three people were killed.

According to AKI at the time, the UN Security Council condemned the fighting and called for a ceasefire.

On Friday June 2, eleven people were killed in the northern suburbs of the capital, and more people died in the center of Mogadishu as a result of a bomb explosion, from a booby-trapped bike. Al Jazeera stated that the bike incident happened in Bindri district in northern Mogadishu, where a man had strapped a bomb to a motorcycle and left it in front of a shop. The bomb killed two and injured four, and the bomber fled. The death toll for Friday, according to Al Jazeera, was eighteen.

According to Reuters via Boston.com the Islamists organised a mass rally in Mogadishu, at which more than 5,000 attended. The people had been motivated by the (unsubstantiated) reports disseminated by the Union of Islamic Courts that the Americans were flying into the region to give aid and logistical support to members of the Alliance. Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed (pictured), head of the Islamist Union calls the US the "devil's allies".

Al Jazeera stated that in the rally, anti-US slogans were chanted, comparing George W Bush to a "Nazi". Sheikh Sharif told the crowd: "The United States is wrongfully supporting the warlords by  funding them in this war. The US actions are contrary to international law and against  the will of the Somali people." Yahoo News stated that people in the crowd carried placards reading: "We need Islamic sharia law, we don't need a man-made constitution", and also: "Down with the U.S.!"

Meanwhile, VOA and the Mail & Guardian reported that Somali elders, led by Ali Hassan, had called upon both sides to stop fighting.

And the fighting was contributing to a potential humanitarian disaster, said Dennis McNamara, special U.N. adviser on displacement in Geneva, according to Reuters. He said: "We're facing in Somalia... a big investment in the fighting, an investment in instability, particularly in Mogadishu which is very serious and which is leading to a new exodus of displaced Somalis. We're seeing very little investment in stability, the peace process and trying to get people back to start normal lives. It is a familiar equation."

On Saturday June 3, the Islamist militia claimed to have taken control of three key positions including formerly military camp Hilweine, El-Irfid and Aliyale villages alongside the road to Balad town of middle Shabelle region.

Mohamed Qanyare Afrah, the minister of national security in the UN-brokered provisional government of Somalia, which is based in Baidoa, 155 miles southwest of Mogadishu, went to Balad from his base in Daynile. With him were 12 battlewagons. Afrah is also member of the ARPCT. According to SomaliNet when he reached Balad he spent time talking with trade minister Muse Sudi, who is also an Alliance member.

Afrah is originally of the "Murarsade" clan of the Hawiye tribe, and their cultural center is the village of Gupta. Businesssmen and others from the clan held a meeting in the village and an anti-war rally was held by hundreds of people, calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Late on Saturday night, fighting intensified, particularly around the former military camp near Balad.

However, as reported in Yahoo, the Turkish Press, the BBC, Voice of America, Al Jazeera, Baku Today and Reuters reported, no rescue mission was possible. Up to 17 people died in the fighting, but Balad remained in the hands of the Islamists.

Militia loyal to another Alliance warlord in the government made their way to Baidoa late on Saturday. This is the first time that militia from the Alliance have officially defected to the provisional government since the ARPCT was set up on February 18 this year. Somalinet reported that militia loyal to the minister of disarmament and rehabilitation of militias Botan Isse Alin, arrived in Baidoa with six battlewagons.

The minister of interior and agriculture, Mohamed Nor Shati Gadud, and the chief commander of military forces, Ali Madobe, welcomed the arrival of the militia at Baidoa.

According to Agence France Presse via Australia's ABC.net, Islamist forces captured 72 Alliance fighters in the fighting at Balad, and also freed 18 prisoners from the Balad penitentiary. Apparently, there were massive defections from ARPCT militia to the side of the Union of Islamic Courts.

That is the news up until Saturday night. The current reports, which state that the capital, Mogadishu, has fallen into the clutches of the Islamists are based mainly upon the radio announcement made late yesterday by Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed. He announced: "We want to restore peace and stability to Mogadishu. We are ready to meet and talk to anybody and any group for the interest of the people."

Most Alliance leaders have fled Mogadishu by today, state reports. Ali Nur, a warlord with the Alliance, said: "We have no immediate plans. Most of our leaders have fled Mogadishu to Jowhar."

Jowhar is an Alliance stronghold, north of Mogadishu.

Reactions from civilians are mixed. Abdulqaadir Bashir, a computer engineer, said: "The Somali people are afraid of Islamists' new wave of hatred and renewed fighting. The Islamic clerics want to be like the Taliban regime in Afghanistan."

Abdinasir Ahmed, an economist, said: "The victory of Islamic courts is a major step toward a lasting peaceful settlement in the Mogadishu. We are tired of the deception and rhetoric of the warlords."

When Somalia's dictatorial president Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991, the country descended into a mire of anarchy, with Mogadishu carved up between rival warlords. The Islamic Courts were set up in 1995, and in their first year of existence, they had public executions and enacted Sharia law strictly, lopping off hands for theft.

They desisted from this, but since the end of last year they have been increasing in their boldness, and often civilians became their targets if deemed "un-Islamic". On May 2 they conducted their first public execution since 1996, as a show of strength.

The fighting which has ensued since February 18, when Alliance and Islamist militias first engaged in conflict, has so far cost the lives of more than 340 people, many of them civilians. 1,700 people have been injured.

The future for Somalia is bleak. The Islamist Courts have no time for the UN provisional government, and during this conflict, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi has shown weak leadership. Because of the situation in Mogadishu, the government has not been able to enter the capital. Gedi late yesterday fired four ministers who are part of the secular alliance, alienating it from some of its own supporters.

The sacked ministers/warlords are, according to Middle East Online Mohamed Afrah Qanyare, the national security minister, Muse Sudi Yalahow, the trade minister, militia rehabilitation minister Issa Botan Alin and religious affairs minister Omar Muhamoud Finnish

Somalia is dependent on UN food aid. Previously, warlords within the government have hijacked ships loaded with UN food destined for Puntland in the south and other drought-stricken regions, and sold off the cargo for personal profit.

The Islamist Courts claim they have no involvement with Al Qaeda, but in July last year, the International Crisis Group claimed that Al Qaeda had already made a foothold in Mogadishu.

If the Union of Islamic Courts do eventually gain control of the nation, the entire Horn of Africa, long viewed as a new target by jihadists connected with Al Qaeda, will become extremely unsafe and unstable.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 5, 2006 11:56 AM

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