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January 22, 2007
Kenya: Somali Islamist Leader Surrenders
42-year old Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed had been the head of the Union of Islamic Courts when Islamist militia took over Mogadishu on June 5, 2006. Ahmed (pictured) has two children and one wife, and was formerly a teacher before he came to be head of the Islamic Courts Union. He remained in this position of power until the weekend of June 24-5, when a new body was formed, the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC). This body was headed by the fiery former terrorist, Shekh Hassan Dir Aweys.
Aweys had been planning his expansion of his militia since September 2005, and has links with Al Qaeda. He formerly headed the group Al-Ittihad al-Islami, which is believed to have carried out the bombing of a Jewish-owned hotel in Kenya on November 28, 2002, killing three people.
Where Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed was a quiet and humble individual, Aweys was an aggressive egotist. News comes today from the Guardian, Evening Echo and Associated Press that Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has surrendered to Kenyan authorities near the border with Somalia.
Ahmed gave himself up on Sunday to a police station in Kenya and was flown to Nairobi. According to the US, Ahmed could be useful in building bridges between the supporters of the Islamists and the transitional government, which was set up by the UN in 2004. Ahmed, according to U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger, is a moderate who should be involved in any national reconciliation process. The ambassador has said: "We were not involved in his capture or surrender."
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 22, 2007 9:37 PM
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