Posted on 6/6/2006, 6:45:23 AM by MadIvan
ISLAMIC militias claimed to have control of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, yesterday, after winning a bloody three-month battle with the warlords who have dominated the city for 15 years.
Many of the warlords, widely believed to be covertly backed by Washington, were fleeing to other parts of Somalia or neighbouring Kenya.
"We won the fight against the enemy of Islam; Mogadishu is under control of its people," Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, the chairman of the Islamic Courts Union, said in a radio broadcast. The Islamic forces support Sharia law in Mogadishu, and they have been compared with the Taleban in Afghanistan.
Local resident Mohamed Asser said: "The era of warlords in Somalia is over. This morning, Mogadishu is under only one hand, the Islamic courts."
If confirmed, it will be the first time control of the whole city had been seized from Somalia's powerful warlords since they ousted the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, ushering in years of extreme violence and anarchy.
Since February, about 350 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in street battles between the Islamic militia and a self-styled anti-terrorism coalition of warlords.
Omar Jamal, the director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Centre in the US city of St Paul, Minnesota, said the Islamic militia's victory in Mogadishu was a major turning point in the country's history.
"It is exactly the same thing that happened with the rise to power of the Taleban," he said, adding that the extremists were "using the people's weariness of violence, rape and civil war" to gain support for a government based on Islamic law.
Many analysts have seen the violence as a proxy war between the US and Islamic militants. Many Somalis have moved to the Islamic side because of Washington's perceived support for the warlords, residents say. The Sharia courts have also gained popularity by restoring a semblance of order to parts of the capital.
After attending a public meeting yesterday, Mogadishu resident Ali Abdikadir said: "The Islamic courts announced they are in control of Mogadishu. They said they would work with residents to improve security in the capital. This is good news for us because the warlords were always engaged in battles. We are looking forward to a life without fighting."
Abdinasir Ahmed, an economist, said: "The victory of Islamic courts is a major step toward a lasting peaceful settlement in Mogadishu. We are tired of the deception and rhetoric of the warlords."
But Abdulqaadir Bashir, a computer engineer, disagreed. "The Islamic clerics want to be like the Taleban regime in Afghanistan," he said. "People have no hope."
After the latest battle on Sunday, in which 18 died, the Islamic militia took the strategic town of Balad, 20 miles from Mogadishu. The town controls the supply route from the capital to the warlords' stronghold of Jowhar further north.
The Islamic fighters followed up yesterday by taking Dayniile, the last warlord-held area in the capital. Residents said it was taken without a fight.
Ali Nur, a militiaman with the warlords' coalition, said its members were now fleeing. "We have no immediate plans. Most of our leaders have fled Mogadishu to Jowhar," he said.
Abdirahman Dinari, spokesman for Somalia's interim government, said he hoped for talks soon with the Islamic side. "I hope the Islamic courts will realise the importance of the government and talk to us. We are ready to talk to them in order to prevent further suffering of the innocent Somali people," he said.
The government, based in the southern city of Baidoa, has been too weak to stop the fighting or to enter the capital.
Fearing more fighting, the UN pulled staff out of Jowhar, which could be the next target for the Islamic militias. "There are fears of attacks and defence lines have been tightened," a UN source said.
The US has not commented on reports it has covertly funnelled large sums of money to the warlords.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
No mention of Clinton, of course.
Wow!! Good for them they conquered a stinking shithole of a place.
there is no concentrated government to decapitate. MadIvan is absolutely right.
Regards, Ivan
Almost every friggin place we have ever conquered has been a sh*thole. Freedom has been spread in many worse places than Somalia, and Arlington Cemetery is proof of that.
We invade and conquer because they are sh*tholes, it's a little thing called Liberty
Yeah it is because I was there when Bin Laden was responsible for the deaths of our Soldiers back in 1993.
BUMP that, Mike!
Why such a low death toll? I thought close to a thousand of them died in that one night battle with the trapped rangers, from the Hueys, you know. That battle was with "the warlords", or the currently reigning warlord. If they were willing to absorb all those casualties to keep power, how come they are heading for the hills ( if there are any ) after 350 "mostly civilians" are killed in 3 months ? Something doesn't add up.
Add one more to the list of countries that will need a good bombing sometime in the not too distant future.
Why would anyone want to colonise such a place? What good is/was there? But then, it was the Italians.
Hueys? When I read Bowden's book, it was called Black Hawk Down.
You gotta get past the title. The hueys strafed the rooftops overnight to hold off the hordes. In the movie, a single pass was depicted, "knocking them off like flies", so project this to an all night operation.
It was mostly for strategic reasons. In the 19th century the French wanted coal deposits. The British wanted to build a trans-African railroad. The newly unified Italians just wanted a piece of the Imperial action. The Egyptians also wanted to make it part of a new empire after they declared independence from the Ottomans. After WW 2 country was shared between British and expatriate Italian administrators. The 1950's saw Somalia reach its peak, as it were, with huge amounts of foreign (mostly U.N.) aid. Somalia became independent from Britain in 1960 and things went downhill from there, as they did in many other former African colonies.
There is a large Somali population here in San Diego
a few miles east of the North Park area in City Heights.
They wear their long covered clothing.
Also supported by the good old taxpayers.
I'll be there shortly --- in 6 weeks.
I bet I'll get a real eye-opener and I have only been gone one year.
Sickening.
Some are cab drivers along with the camel jockies.
At some of their stop areas at prayer time, out they are on their prayer rugs along their cabs.
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