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July 13, 2006

Somalia: Islamists Kill Man For Complaining About Tax

News from Shabelle and Reuters via Cape Argus News reports that Islamists have shot dead a 35-year old man in Jowhar, 55 miles north of Mogadishu. The man was among a group of about 100 people, who were protesting in the market place about new taxes. Others were apparently injured by shooting.

These taxes have only now been imposed upon small businesses by the Islamists, who took control of the town on June 14, after it had been under the control of a warlord, Mohamed Dhere..

40 young men with plastic bags were demanding taxed from traders and businesses, which have provoked condemnation from people who say they cannot trade and pay the taxes. The Islamist militia shot one of the protesters in the head, and arrested 100 people.

One resident said in a phone call to Shabelle: "We cannot say they are quite different than former warlord because they are killing people."

Sheikh Osman Mohamed is the Islamist leader now supervising Jowhar, holding the interim chair of the administrative committee. He said that tax collectors had been prevented from carrying out their duties. He told a local radio station: "We know this incident is planed by the enemies of the Islamists but we will get them soon. Our team has been insulted before starting work at the market and violent demonstration has been staged."

This is the first location where the Islamists have demanded taxes from residents.

Last week the Islamists announced that they had taken control of Mogadishu airport, and yesterday they announced that the sea port of Mogadishu, which has been unused for ten years, is now under their control. They plan to restore it to its former function.

The sea port was handed over to the Islamists by warlord Mohamoud Jama Furuh, who was also the Somalia assistant minister for ports and sea transportation in the country's virtually powerless interim government, whose headquarters are in Baidoa, about 155 miles northwest of the capital.

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed (pictured), chairman of the Union of Islamic Courts, said the event was historic, and a "victorious moment".

Associated Press via Helenair states that 300 Islamist militiamen took up positions around the port following Jama Furuh's surrender.

On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, hundreds of fighters in southern Mogadishu engaged in gunbattles with the Islamists, in a last attempt by the warlords' militia to resist. Reuters Alertnet claims that there were 380 casualties and at least eleven deaths among these casualties, citing Red Cross sources. The total dead in these recent clashes is about 70, states AP.

In northern Mogadishu yesterday, states Shabelle, a convoy of Islamic Courts' militia were ambushed, in the territory formerly controlled by Bashir Rage. Three people died and four were wounded in the incident. Abu Sheyba and Abdulkadir Omar Adan, two prominent figures in the Islamic Courts, were among those injured.

After gaining control of the airport, the sea port and most other parts of Mogadishu, the Islamists are now demanding that all property of the provisional government be handed over to them, states Agence France Presse via iAfrica.

In Galgudud region, home territory of Sheikh Aweys, leader of the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS), where recently Islamists shot a cinema owner and a girl for watching the World Cup, there has been activity. Following claims that warlords were said to be regrouping in this region, Islamic militia stormed a village. About 100 Islamists, searching for three warlords, searched homes in the village of Derri, but did not find their targets.

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said: "The other remaining government properties must be handed over to the Islamic courts. Mogadishu is right now under control of the Islamic courts. We will control every other important thing in Mogadishu. I encourage everybody who is opposed to the Islamic courts to change that stance and support them."

Abdrahman Mohamed Nur Dinari, a spokesperson from the interim government, said: "We have no problem if the Islamists take control of the port and other facilities so long as they later hand them over to the government, which rightfully owns them. But if they want to set up their own management of the ports and other facilities, that will be very complicated."

AFP states that in Jowhar, where Islamists shot a tax protester, there had been 400 demonstrators.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 13, 2006 11:23 AM

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