MOGADISHU, June 15: Islamic militias now controlling swathes of southern Somalia on Thursday rode north into Hiraan region, easily overrunning several trading posts en route to a key town near the Ethiopian border.
The northward push came as hundreds of supporters of their Joint Islamic Courts protested in Mogadishu against plans to deploy African peacekeepers to help the interim government impose its rule on the lawless nation.
The demonstration came as the Islamic alliance leader sought the support of influential Somalian clan elders for the imposition of Sharia law in areas the Islamists now control and for the expulsion of US-backed warlords from their last strongholds in the country.
Areas now under the control of the Joint Islamic Courts militia include most of the capital, Mogadishu, the town of Jowhar in Middle Shabelle region as well as Gialalassi town and several posts in Hiraan, all former strongholds of US-backed warlords who were routed on Wednesday.
Islamic commanders said they had seized the towns without much resistance and were targeting Beledweyne, a key access town to Ethiopia, about 300 kilometres north of the capital.
Two people were killed in Gialalassi as rival Hawad and Adde subclans, both allied to warlords, wrangled over whether to accommodate fleeing militia before the Islamists arrived, commanders said.
At the Mogadishu rally, speakers poured scorn on parliament over the introduction of peacekeepers.
“The so-called parliament which adopted the resolution calling for the occupation of Somalia are unpatriotic, criminals and deserve the hatred of the Somali people,” said Ahmed Mohamud Qare, an influential civil society activist.
The largely powerless parliament approved the peacekeeping force on Wednesday, fearing an attack on Baidoa, where it and the equally powerless interim government have their temporary seats.
Around 200 people staged a separate demonstration on Thursday in Baidoa, about 250 kilometres northwest of Mogadishu, this time in support of the peacekeeping force. The troops are to come from a regional bloc that was key to the formation of Somalia’s transitional government.
But anti-peacekeepers protestors said the parliament had been manipulated by other countries in the region, namely Somalia’s historic foe Ethiopia, which they accused of wanting to occupy their shattered nation.
“Ethiopia is the arch-enemy of Somalia. It wants to set up a paper government that would continue adopting the policies of Addis Ababa,” Sheikh Ahmed Abdi, a hardline cleric, told the protesters.
The Islamist militias have vowed to kill any foreign peacekeepers.
The protest coincided with a closed-doors meeting in Jowhar between Islamic alliance leader Sheikh Shariff Sheikh Ahmed and influential clan elders, who have a powerful role in resolving conflicts.
“Our first priority is to establish an Islamic administration (and) make sure that the towns under our control are safe before spreading our control to other areas,” Islamic militia commander Sheikh Hassan Warsame told AFP.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991, when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled from power.
Islamic fighters have already set about bolstering security in Jowhar, which they seized from the US-backed warlords just days after routing the latter from Mogadishu, 90 kilometres to the south.
On Thursday security and a semblance of normal life appeared to be returning to the town. The Islamic militia imposed an overnight curfew and began enforcing a “no-gun rule”. The whereabouts of the ousted warlords was unclear.
As day broke, Islamic pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns rumbled through the streets, market stalls reopened, and fuel sellers, money changers and other small-time traders were back in business, albeit sluggishly, an AFP correspondent reported.
“We have no problem with the Islamic courts because they are imposing the rule of Allah. A person who is guided by the constitution of Allah — the holy Quran — makes no mistakes,” said Sheikh Ahmed Muhamoud, a Islamic teacher in Jowhar.
Rifle-toting Islamic militiamen patrolling the streets were amiable to passers-by and city dwellers.
Rescue workers continued to scour the outskirts of Jowhar in search of more bodies from Wednesday’s fighting. Residents and doctors said the death toll had climbed to 12.
Doctors in the main Jowhar hospital said they had run out of basic medical stocks and facilities but the number of injured coming from the outskirts was mounting.
“We have run out of medicine and other essential surgical tools and our appeals have not been heard,” said Abdullahi Hussein, clinical director of Jowhar Hospital.
Meanwhile in New York, a newly-created international “Somali Contact Group” was preparing to hold talks on ways of supporting the Somali government.
The United States, Britain, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Tanzania are among the countries expected to attend the talks at United Nations headquarters in New York. Somalia will not be present.
Washington proposed the creation of the contact group last week, implicitly recognising that the Somali warlord alliance, which it backs, had failed to check the advance of the Islamists.—AFP
