Home | Friday 6th February 2009 | Issue 665
SHEIK BATTLE & RULE
AS SchNEWS LOCKS HORNS WITH AFRICAN INSURGENCY EMERGENCY
It’s been out with the old and in with the new since Schnews last reported on what’s happening in Somalia (SchNEWS 658). The UN/Western-backed ‘Transitional Federal Government’ fled its base in Baidoa when the Islamist militias of Al Shabab took over took over the town, with MPs fleeing alongside withdrawing Ethiopian troops. The UN rubber-stamped government that never was is no more.
After two years the Ethiopian occupation ended in January, and now there’s a new sheriff in town. Well, Sharif actually - Sheik Sharif Ahmed to be exact. Sheik Sharif may be new to the job of president but its not the first time he’s held the reins of power. He was leader of the Islamic Courts in 2006, when they’d defeated the warlords and brought peace (and an amputatory Islamic justice) to the mean streets of Mogadishu.
That was until Ethiopia (backed up by US gunships) defeated the ICU and occupied Mogadishu, the African front in the lunatic ‘War on Terror’. Since then Somalia has remained the worst crisis in Africa, and Mogadishu the world's most dangerous city. Some 10,000 people have been killed in the last 2 years, and Somalis are one of the world’s largest refugee populations.
So even as Somalis breathe a sigh of relief that the Ethiopians have left, they’re stuck the latest phase of their insurgency/civil war. The hardcore jihadists of the Al Shabab militia (formerly the ICU’s military wing), have declared holy war against the Islamic Courts Union - claiming they’ve betrayed their religion by joining a secular government. Just this week several insurgent factions announced that they would merge to fight Sheik Ahmed’s compromise government. On the other side African Union peacekeepers recently killed over a dozen civilians in Mogadishu after their army truck was hit by a roadside bomb.
Despite the chaos, Somalia, and particularly Mogadishu, has a thriving independent media sector. Radio and internet news outfits manage to report despite extreme danger. Scores of journalists have been killed in Somalia. On the 1st of January this year gunmen killed radio reporter Hassan Mayow Hassan. The most recent killing took place last Monday (2nd). The director of Horn Afrik Radio, Said Tahliil Ahmed, was ambushed on the way to a press conference called by the Al Shabab insurgent group.
On strict conditions of anonymity, Schnews interviewed one of Mogadishu’s independent jounalists who witnessed the killing of his colleague. He said:
“Recently a group of us journalists were contacted by the Al Shabab. There were 12 of us. Their press officer ‘Hassan Haneshi’ called a special meeting in a Mogadishu back street. The director of Horn Afrik, Said Tahliil Ahmed, was shot. The rest of us managed to escape. We told the Islamic Courts Union that we had been attacked and they posted guards outside our offices. Since then we’ve all been threatened. We received emails saying that other journalists and directors would be next if they didn’t publish Al Shabab propaganda.
We practise ethical journalism. We are independent. We interview everybody - Al Shabab, the government, everybody. When the Ethiopians were here they would sometimes shut us down.
Al Shabab say that they want the foreign (African Union) troops out, but they have a hidden agenda. They want war for their propaganda. Even if the AU left they’d still find a reason to go on fighting.
The Al Shabab have captured Baidoa, so now there is no seat for the Somali parliament. Sheik Sharif and the new Islamic Courts government have been meeting for the last 3 days with clan elders about returning to Mogadishu. They are recruiting former insurgents into the new security forces. There is talk that this new government will re-open the ports, the roads, the airport.
We hope that this way Al Shabab will be marginalised. We hope that Sheik Sharif will bring peace to the country.
The warlords are very weak now. They don’t have their militias any more. The ICU and the TFG are ready to compromise for the sake of the people. They used to fight each other but now they are working together. The situation in Mogadishu has dramatically changed. People have been trickling back over the last 3 weeks. I’ve seen lots of buses. People are very happy.
We want to see George W Bush taken to court for his crimes. He supported the Ethiopian invasion and gave them arms. Now there is a new president in the USA, president Sharif says that he sees a positive role for the US in Somalia. We hope that the new president will be better for Somalia.”
* English Somali news: http://shabelle.net
