Somali Islamists react coolly to bin Laden comments
Sunday July 2, 05:17 PM
MOGADISHU (AFP) - A powerful Somali Islamic group has distanced itself from Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden while the government blasted him for voicing support for the Islamists and warning against deploying international forces in the shattered African nation.
"The comments made by Osama bin Laden are like any other statement made by politicians or any other person who is expressing his views on the change of political landscape in Somalia," said Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the former leader
of the Islamic courts Sunday.
"These are personal comments and we have nothing to say at this point," he told reporters in the capital Mogadishu.
According to an audiotape attributed to him and posted on the Internet Saturday, the second in as many days, bin Laden, the world's most wanted man, came out strongly against deploying peacekeepers in Somalia, which has lacked an effective government for the last 15 years.
The speaker warned "countries of the world against responding to America and sending international forces to Somalia," vowing to fight any such troops in Somalia and "reserving the right" to "punish" these countries on their own soil "and anywhere possible."
Somali transitional Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi blasted Laden and said his comments confirmed the presence of extremists in Somalia.
"Osama bin Laden is claiming to be a religious scholar in Islam and we say that is not true," Gedi told reporters in Baidoa, the temporary base of the transitional government, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of the capital.
"Long before him, his parents and his ancestors, we were Muslims and we were practising Islam."
"His statements show the international community that he (bin Laden) has representation in Somalia. He wants to provoke the world to attack Somalia," Gedi said.
"Osama bin Laden has no religious authority over the people of Somalia," said the prime minister, whose authority has increasingly been challenged by the Islamists.
The Islamists, grouped under the newly-formed Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS), whose forces took the capital from a US-backed warlord alliance on June 5, has warned the east African Inter-Governmental Authority on Development and the African Union against deploying their troops to help President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed exert his control.
Somalia was plunged into lawlessness in 1991 after the ousting of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre and the nation of some 10 million was then divided into a patchwork of fiefdoms governed by unruly warlords.
The SICS, which is headed by radical cleric Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, is accused by the United States of having ties to al-Qaeda. The Islamists, who stepped into the the power vacuum, have prompted fears the country may become "a breeding ground for terrorists."
But Aweys has denied the US accusations of links to al-Qaeda and insist that the Islamic tribunals are only interested in restoring peace and order in the shattered African nation.
The Islamists won support for ridding the capital of US-backed, much-despised warlords after four months of clashes that erupted on February 18 and claimed the lives of at least 360 people while leaving wounded more than 2,000 others, mostly civilians.
In a move aimed at restoring governance in Somalia, the Islamists ordered the resumption for visas for foreigners travelling into the capital.
"Foreigners should apply for permission before traveling to Mogadishu. The rule will apply to foreign journalists and diplomats. They can only arrive here when we give them permission," said Ahmed, who is regarded by the west as a moderate Muslim.
The Islamists, whose rapidly growing influence has threatened the authority of the fledging transitional government, have announced their intention to seize control of the whole of the country and impose Sharia law, apparently ignoring calls by Washington and United Nations to refrain from expanding their territory.
In addition, Ahmed renewed his appeal to arch-rival Ethiopia to withdraw its troops from Somalia, or risk plunging the volatile Horn of Africa region into another round of anarchic bloodletting.
"We are condemning the military incursion by Ethiopia against Somalia. We have credible reports that contigents of Ethiopian troops have crossed the border into Somalia. This action is provocative and a recipe for regional conflict," he said.
"We are urging Ethiopia again and again to refrain from these actions that could undermine peace," he added.
Addis Ababa itself has denied the incursion claims, but confirmed that it had boosted border security because of unspecified provocation by the Islamists.
Ahmed claimed that Ethiopian troops aboard military vehicles entered Somalia on Saturday, near the town of Bulahawo, but the claims could not be independently confirmed.
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