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July 5, 2006

Somalia: Islamist Militia Kill Two For Watching Soccer - Resentment Grows

The Union of Islamic Courts began to reassert their presence at the end of last year, closing down bars, sports halls, cinemas, film-editing studios, and other venues they deemed "un-Islamic". Since February they were engaged in battles with an alliance of warlords and businessmen, the Counter-Terror Alliance. On March 16 the Islamists vowed that they would take Mogadishu by force. On June 5 after 350 people had died in the clashes since February's conflicts began, the Islamists announced that they had won. Mogadishu was under their control.

Their victory appeared to show a sign of peace for the common Somali, conditioned to survice in a culture of anarchy and corruption since dictator Mohammed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991. Many of those who died in the February to June conflicts were civilian bystanders. The citizenry had been led to believe that the Alliance was a puppet of the United States, and thus the Islamic Courts were given conditional support.

Today, according to AFP via Turkish Press, AP via CNN and Santa Barbara Newspress, DPA via Monsters & Critics, the Sunday Times, the BBC and VOA News, the Islamists have appeared to have overplayed their hand.

Last year, the Islamic Courts killed when they decided to close down cinemas, before their bid for control of the nation. And last month, shortly after gaining power, they created violent protests by using threats of death to prevent people watching World Cup soccer matches, which the Islamists deem to be "unIslamic".

Two people had been killed then and this led, according to SAPA/AFP, to the ban on watching soccer to be partially repealed.

Yesterday, young people were in a cinema where a businessman was showing the Germany-Italy World Cup game. The cinema is situated in the town of Dhuusa Marreeb in central Galgadud district. This district is the home region of the new leader of the Islamic Courts, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. In a coup 10 days ago, which saw the courts renamed the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia, Aweys took power from Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the head of the Union of Islamic Courts.

The exact details of what happened in the cinema is unclear. The news was reported today on Shabelle Radio. According to the BBC, people were at the cinema late on Tuesday, ready to watch the soccer match when the Islamist militia arrived and told them to go. When people did not leave, the Islamists fired shots into the air. When this failed to disperse people who began to protest, the Islamists shot at them. Two people were killed.

The BBC states that the two who died were the businessman who owned the cinema, and a young girl.

According to SAPA/AFP in South Africa's Sunday Times, the crowd were in the cinema and watching the match via satellite TV when the Islamists arrived. A witness stated, on condition of anonymity: "They closed the hall and forced viewers to go home but this angered everybody and prompted a demonstration."

The two dead were confirmed by SAPA as Mohamed Hirsi Dhore, the owner of the cinema, and Sahro Indhoweyne, the young girl.

Another witness claimed: "They said they will not allow any cinema to operate."

The Islamists of the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia have banned cinema and also television. The regions where they have control are shown in the map, top left. In Mogadishu, Sheikh Aweys, who almost certainly has links to Al Qaeda, has begun to set up new Islamic Courts.

Voice of America states that there is now widespread opposition to the Islamists. Sheikh Abdullahi Ali Adan, a member of the Sufi Muslim clerics' association in Baidoa, where the official transitional government has power, says that the Islamists in Mogadishu are not true Muslims and few Somalis accept them as such.

VOA notes that in Baidoa, people are sceptical of the Islamists in power based upon their clan affiliations. Many of the Islamists belong to the Hawiye clan, who have previously caused loss of life in campaigns against those of the Digil and Mirifle clams.

One of these is Yusuf Mohammed Siad, who began his own land-grab after dictator Siad Barre was ousted in 1991. In the anarchy which followed, Siad took land from the Digil and Mirife, and is now a senior member of the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia.

The picture above is a cartoon drawn last year by Amin Amir, a popular Somali graphic artist, showing his perspective on how the Islamic militia from the former nion of Islamic Courts operated. The "battlewagon", the gun-mounted truck, carries the words "Islamic Courts". According to Somalinet last October, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, head of the Union of Islamic courts, as it was then known, stated that his militias would not attack clans who had their own militia. As a result, the Islamists were then attacking mainly the business interests of the Banadiri and Maymay clans, who did not have their own militias.

The government in Baidoa came into being 19 months ago, as a result of brokering by the UN. Western and Arab nations appear to be giving their support to this government, as it is the only body of power with some sort of legitimacy.

Today, leaders of the transitional government met officials from a regional East African group, the African Union, European Union and the Arab League to discuss plans for deploying peacekeepers.

The Islamists are adamantly opposed to the presence of foreign troops in Somalia, though it appears they do not mind the presence of foreign Islamists.

UPDATE 6 JULY:

Proof of the above claim has now come from Associated Press, via Yahoo News, which obtained an hour long video (frame shown at right) showing Arabs fighting alongside Somali nationals in Mogadishu. The video is a recruitment tool for Islamist jihad, and depicts Arab fighters getting themselves prepared for battle in the northern outskirts of Mogadishu.

The audio track on the video has Arabic anthems and poetry, which exhort Muslims to join global jihad. The video features in one stage Yusuf Indohaadde, a leader of the Islamists, walking among a contigent of Arab men in an old warehouse, as the fighters are in vehicles. The rest of the tape involves one group of Somalis fighting, leading to the defeat and control of the town of Essaleh, three miles north of Mogadishu.

Evan Kohlmann, counter-terrorism expert, has said of the tape: "I think it is tremendously significant and may be the determining piece of evidence that will decide U.S. policy on Somalia. Sounds a lot like al-Qaida when the Taliban were just getting started in Afghanistan."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 5, 2006 7:56 PM

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