Somalia's hardline leader emerges in Eritrea By Xan Rice, The Guardian | September 6, 2007
Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is accused by the US of links to al-Qaida, headed the Somali Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) until it was driven from power in Mogadishu by Ethiopian forces, last December. Having fled the capital he was thought to be been living in southern Somalia.
Many people saw his hand in an ongoing insurgency mounted by former Islamist fighters and clan militias, against the occupying Ethiopian army and troops loyal to Somalia's interim government.
The conference, in the Eritrean capital Asmara, drew more than 300 delegates including observers from the United Nations and the European Commission as well as disaffected members of the Somali government.
Mr Aweys's surprise appearance confirmed recent reports that the leadership structure of the disbanded SCIC was still largely intact.
The 72-year-old cleric sat beside Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, regarded as the SCIC's second-in-command, who said the aim of the ten-day meeting was to create "a political organisation that liberates the country and ends the violence and chaotic situation".
"We call upon Ethiopia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Somalia and stop its imperialistic adventure on our territory," Mr Ahmed said. "We remind her that the longer the conflict goes on, the higher the risk it will engulf the whole region."
The opposition congress comes a week after the closure of a government-sponsored reconciliation conference in the capital. The separate talks are indicative of the wide gulf between the two groups, whose differences are being played out on the streets of Mogadishu, where several people are being killed in fighting every day.
They also illustrate how the Somali conflict has become a theatre for the proxy conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, whose relations have never recovered since they fought a border war in the late nineties. Ethiopia is firmly on the side on Somalia's weak government and enjoys the strong support for the US, which provided military support for its invasion to oust the Islamists.
Eritrea, despite having little tolerance for religious groups of any persuasion within its own borders, was quick to offer refuge to the Islamist leaders. The country has also been accused by UN arms monitors of supplying weapons to the SCIC and, more recently, to the insurgents.
Militant Islamists united againt Ethiopia
ASMARA, Eritrea (AFP) - Somali opposition figures, including top Islamist leaders, opened a 10-day congress in Eritrea on Thursday with a call for a swift withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from their war-torn country.
Some 400 delegates gathered in the Eritrean capital for the meeting, which came exactly a week after the close of a clan reconciliation conference sponsored by the interim government and the international community in Mogadishu.
Sheikh Hassan Aweys, the overall leader of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) that briefly controlled large swathes of Somalia before being ousted earlier this year by Ethiopian-backed government forces, was present at the gathering.
Aweys, who was making a rare appearance after months in hiding, did not speak but another of the Islamist movement's top leaders addressed the gathering to press his demand for a rapid Ethiopian withdrawal.
"We hold this conference to establish a political organisation that liberates the country and ends the violence and chaotic situation," Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said.
"We call upon Ethiopia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Somalia and stop its imperialistic adventure on our territory," the senior ICU leader added.
He warned that a prolonged conflict in Somalia would eventually spill over into neighbouring countries and risk setting the whole Horn of Africa region ablaze.
"We remind her (Ethiopia) that the longer the conflict goes on, the higher the risk it will engulf the whole region."
"The United States' foreign policy towards Somalia has been strangely confrontational. We call upon the United States to play a more positive role in the Somali conflict," Sheikh Sharif went on.
Sheikh Aweys and other members of the Islamic Courts Union are wanted by the United States over suspected links with the Al-Qaeda network.
Washington backed Ethiopia's military operations in Somalia and toughened its stance against Addis Ababa's arch-foe and neighbour Eritrea, accusing it of arming Islamists in Somalia and elsewhere in the region.
The Islamist movement boycotted the Mogadishu conference, arguing that any peace efforts should take place only after an Ethiopian withdrawal.
Observers have expressed fears that the two back-to-back conferences would achieve little more than a consolidation of each of Somalia's feuding camps.
But former deputy prime minister Hussein Aideed said the opposition also had some soul-searching to do and should seek to adopt constructive measures towards peace.
"This meeting ... is not a meeting of Somali angels," Aideed said in his own opening speech.
"If we are to be honest to ourselves... we have all directly or indirectly been the cause of the ongoing insecurity in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia. No one here from among the delegates can claim total innocence."
"I hope the meeting will not produce another outfit that becomes another rubber stamp (for) someone's... selfish power interests," he added.
Diaspora representatives from North America and ten European countries were also present.
In three years of existence, Somalia's Western-backed transitional government has failed to restore stability.
It blames the Islamic Courts Union and allied clan leaders for the near-daily guerrilla-style attacks which have plagued Mogadishu in recent months.
In the latest violence to rock the seaside capital, three more civilians fell victim Thursday to the fighting between government forces and insurgents.
Eyewitness Ali Mohammed Anwar told AFP an elderly man and a woman were killed when a police patrol came under grenade attack near the capital's Salama mosque.
"I saw one of the policemen open fire, killing an old man holding a bag in his hand," he said. "The woman was hit by shrapnel from the grenade blast and was then run over by a bus as she lay on the ground."
Another civilian was killed by Somali security forces in Mogadishu's Holgawad neighbourhood as he tried to cross a heavily guarded street late at night.
Somali security forces have launched a wide crackdown aimed at flushing out insurgents from pockets in the capital that still escape government control.
Since the ouster of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has had no central authority and defied at least a dozen initiatives aimed at ending bloody tribal feuds and restoring stability. (Peter Martell, AFP)
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Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is accused by the US of links to al-Qaida, headed the Somali Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) until it was driven from power in Mogadishu by Ethiopian forces, last December. Having fled the capital he was thought to be been living in southern Somalia.
Many people saw his hand in an ongoing insurgency mounted by former Islamist fighters and clan militias, against the occupying Ethiopian army and troops loyal to Somalia's interim government.
The conference, in the Eritrean capital Asmara, drew more than 300 delegates including observers from the United Nations and the European Commission as well as disaffected members of the Somali government.
Mr Aweys's surprise appearance confirmed recent reports that the leadership structure of the disbanded SCIC was still largely intact.
"We call upon Ethiopia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Somalia and stop its imperialistic adventure on our territory," Mr Ahmed said. "We remind her that the longer the conflict goes on, the higher the risk it will engulf the whole region."
The opposition congress comes a week after the closure of a government-sponsored reconciliation conference in the capital. The separate talks are indicative of the wide gulf between the two groups, whose differences are being played out on the streets of Mogadishu, where several people are being killed in fighting every day.
They also illustrate how the Somali conflict has become a theatre for the proxy conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, whose relations have never recovered since they fought a border war in the late nineties. Ethiopia is firmly on the side on Somalia's weak government and enjoys the strong support for the US, which provided military support for its invasion to oust the Islamists.
Eritrea, despite having little tolerance for religious groups of any persuasion within its own borders, was quick to offer refuge to the Islamist leaders. The country has also been accused by UN arms monitors of supplying weapons to the SCIC and, more recently, to the insurgents.
Militant Islamists united againt Ethiopia
ASMARA, Eritrea (AFP) - Somali opposition figures, including top Islamist leaders, opened a 10-day congress in Eritrea on Thursday with a call for a swift withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from their war-torn country.
Some 400 delegates gathered in the Eritrean capital for the meeting, which came exactly a week after the close of a clan reconciliation conference sponsored by the interim government and the international community in Mogadishu.
Sheikh Hassan Aweys, the overall leader of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) that briefly controlled large swathes of Somalia before being ousted earlier this year by Ethiopian-backed government forces, was present at the gathering.
Aweys, who was making a rare appearance after months in hiding, did not speak but another of the Islamist movement's top leaders addressed the gathering to press his demand for a rapid Ethiopian withdrawal.
"We hold this conference to establish a political organisation that liberates the country and ends the violence and chaotic situation," Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said.
"We call upon Ethiopia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Somalia and stop its imperialistic adventure on our territory," the senior ICU leader added.
He warned that a prolonged conflict in Somalia would eventually spill over into neighbouring countries and risk setting the whole Horn of Africa region ablaze.
"We remind her (Ethiopia) that the longer the conflict goes on, the higher the risk it will engulf the whole region."
"The United States' foreign policy towards Somalia has been strangely confrontational. We call upon the United States to play a more positive role in the Somali conflict," Sheikh Sharif went on.
Sheikh Aweys and other members of the Islamic Courts Union are wanted by the United States over suspected links with the Al-Qaeda network.
Washington backed Ethiopia's military operations in Somalia and toughened its stance against Addis Ababa's arch-foe and neighbour Eritrea, accusing it of arming Islamists in Somalia and elsewhere in the region.
The Islamist movement boycotted the Mogadishu conference, arguing that any peace efforts should take place only after an Ethiopian withdrawal.
Observers have expressed fears that the two back-to-back conferences would achieve little more than a consolidation of each of Somalia's feuding camps.
But former deputy prime minister Hussein Aideed said the opposition also had some soul-searching to do and should seek to adopt constructive measures towards peace.
"This meeting ... is not a meeting of Somali angels," Aideed said in his own opening speech.
"If we are to be honest to ourselves... we have all directly or indirectly been the cause of the ongoing insecurity in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia. No one here from among the delegates can claim total innocence."
"I hope the meeting will not produce another outfit that becomes another rubber stamp (for) someone's... selfish power interests," he added.
Diaspora representatives from North America and ten European countries were also present.
In three years of existence, Somalia's Western-backed transitional government has failed to restore stability.
It blames the Islamic Courts Union and allied clan leaders for the near-daily guerrilla-style attacks which have plagued Mogadishu in recent months.
In the latest violence to rock the seaside capital, three more civilians fell victim Thursday to the fighting between government forces and insurgents.
Eyewitness Ali Mohammed Anwar told AFP an elderly man and a woman were killed when a police patrol came under grenade attack near the capital's Salama mosque.
"I saw one of the policemen open fire, killing an old man holding a bag in his hand," he said. "The woman was hit by shrapnel from the grenade blast and was then run over by a bus as she lay on the ground."
Another civilian was killed by Somali security forces in Mogadishu's Holgawad neighbourhood as he tried to cross a heavily guarded street late at night.
Somali security forces have launched a wide crackdown aimed at flushing out insurgents from pockets in the capital that still escape government control.
Since the ouster of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has had no central authority and defied at least a dozen initiatives aimed at ending bloody tribal feuds and restoring stability. (Peter Martell, AFP)
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