US told to back moderate Islamists

By Katie Stuhldreher, The Washington Times
July 18, 2006

"You talk about mistrust, fear and tension nowadays, and Somalia is even worse than Iraq," Herman Cohen, former assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said at a press briefing. .

The Islamic Courts Union (ICU), the dominant Islamist movement in the narrow nation in the Horn of Africa, controls more than 20 percent of Somalian territory and 40 percent of the Somalian people.

Mr. Cohen said Somalis have enjoyed more security and stability after the ICU's June takeover of the capital, Mogadishu, than they had in the past 15 years. "Word is getting out that life in Mogadishu since the ICU is pretty good. They ended the reign of corrupt warlords who only took money, kidnapped people and set up roadblocks," he said.

Somalian clan politics have prevented the emergence of a strong centralized government for decades, but the appeal of calm and a new united Somalian state could be "a potentially successful formula" for the Islamists, he added.

The growing appeal of the ICU is being monitored by the State Department, which has included the group's governing council president on its terrorist list. Robert Oakley, special U.S. envoy to Somalia from 1992 to 1994, pointed out that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been to Somalia before and used it as an example of a negative U.S. role.

"At the moment, there's no evidence that al Qaeda is setting up a new base of operations in Somalia. But we can't just forget about Somalia like we have before," he said.

Ethiopia, Somalia's longtime military rival, also is wary of the ICU's gains.

David H. Shinn, U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia from 1996 to 1999, said, "There are 4 million Somalis living in Ethiopia. If that area were to become part of Somalia like many of these [Islamist] leaders want, Ethiopia would lose a lot of its territory, something like a quarter."

Mr. Cohen said the United States should discourage Ethiopia from using force and creating a "self-fulfilling prophecy" -- the ICU rallying Islamist forces against invading "crusaders."

The United States should support moderate Islamic elements in Somalia, or risk radicalization, Mr. Cohen said.

He also urged the United States to change its focus from narrow anti-terrorism concerns to a battle for "hearts and minds" in a land still bitter over past U.S. support for the warlords.

"I think now 10 of the 15 Islamic councils are moderate. But with Saudi funding, the hard-liners could gain more ground. We need to support the moderates now, while the situation is still fluid," Mr. Cohen said.

Somali government ready for talks with Islamist leaders

Meanwhile, Somalia's president on Monday dropped his opposition to peace talks with Islamists now in control of the capital, said a senior aide, amid fears that new violence could engulf the lawless state, the AFP reported.

The official said President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed reversed his earlier refusal to allow the government to participate in the Arab League-sponsored talks in Sudan and asked Khartoum to set a new date for the meeting.

The official said: "He has accepted the participation of the Somali transitional government in the peace talks sponsored by the Arab League and hosted by Sudan.

"He contacted the Sudanese government and affirmed the participation of the Somali government", adding that Yusuf had suggested Friday as a possible starting date.

Govt boycott talks

A foreign ministry official said Khartoum planned to announce the date on Tuesday for the launch of the talks, which had been due to open on Saturday, but were boycotted by the government.

According to reports, the Somali government delegation was expected in the Sudanese capital "in the next couple of days".

On Friday, Yusuf had told parliament that the government would not attend the talks, which were aimed at resolving differences that threatened to plunge Somalia into further conflict as the Islamists moved to consolidate power.

He accused the Islamists of breaking an earlier peace and mutual recognition agreement, brokered in June after Muslim militia routed a United States-backed warlord alliance after months of bloody battle for Mogadishu.

Islamists deny the charges

Yusuf also suggested that hardline Islamist leaders were planning to threaten the largely powerless, but internationally backed government at its base in Baidoa, where it had set up shop due to insecurity in the capital.

The Islamists had denied the charges, but had moved rapidly to consolidate and expand their power since seizing control of Mogadishu from the warlords on June 05.

The Arab League initiative was part of international efforts to restore peace and stability to Somalia - which had been without a functioning central authority since 1991 - and end competition between different factions to fill the power vacuum.

On June 22, the transitional government and the Islamists signed a preliminary accord after the latter routed a US-backed alliance of warlords from Mogadishu, after fierce battles that alarmed many.

At the time, the two sides agreed to meet again on July 15 to thrash out security and governance arrangements, but since then the Islamists had further expanded their territory, drawing charges that they reneged on the deal.