Islamists left behind try to make sense of new Somalia

[Liqaye]

01-02) 04:00 PST Mogadishu, Somalia -- Their leaders slipped out of this capital under the cover of darkness. The plum jobs are gone. Their former offices were the first to be looted in a spasm of vandalism last week by angry young men.

 

On Monday, Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi renewed his offer of amnesty to midlevel officials and fighters of Somalia's now-defunct Islamic Courts Union who put down their weapons. He also issued a three-day deadline for everyone in Mogadishu to turn in their guns.

 

But for the Islamists left behind in Somalia's long-troubled capital, the ordeal is not over. While top Islamic officials escaped south toward Kenya last week, thousands of employees, fighters and other court supporters remain trapped in Mogadishu, struggling to comprehend the new reality.

 

Once part of the city's new elite, many have gone into hiding, fearful about retribution or worried that enemies might finger them as Islamic Court collaborators to Somali soldiers, Ethiopian troops allied with the 2-year-old transitional government, or the warlord militias reasserting control in the city.

 

On Monday, weary Mogadishu residents tried to return to normalcy after a week of turmoil and a three-day Eid holiday. Shops and offices reopened. People ventured out on the streets. Only a handful of soldiers were visible patrolling the congested roads or guarding government buildings. Ethiopian troops seen in public generally drew large crowds of Somali onlookers, who would stand together in groups and observe the soldiers from afar.

 

Most of the city quickly has adapted to the fall of the Islamists, resuming activities once discouraged. Cinemas reopened. Children played soccer again on the beach. Vendors of khat, the leafy stimulant, resumed the daily deliveries in the marketplace.

 

But supporters of the courts remained largely in the background. Some still defend the courts and predict resurgence of the once-powerful alliance of Islamic leaders. But others insist they were misled and exploited by an organization that fell victim to infighting and greed.

 

"It was a black day for Somalia," said one midlevel court official, referring to when Islamist fighters abandoned Mogadishu on Thursday to advancing troops from Ethiopia and Somalia's transitional government.

 

The official, who was too afraid to have his name or former position revealed, said the courts began to split in recent weeks into two factions. One wanted to pursue negotiations with the weak transitional government; another was pushing for an attack on Baidoa, the temporary seat of the government. The latter group won out , only to find their fighters routed by Somali forces and more than 4,000 Ethiopian troops.

 

Nevertheless, he said he had no inkling Wednesday that the movement he devoted his life to would collapse the next day. Co-workers phoned him that evening with rumors that his bosses had fled . It wasn't until he heard the radio the next morning that he realized the courts had disintegrated.

 

"I was just an employee," he said. "They didn't invite us to go with them."

 

Now he's scrambling to find another job to support his children and turning to his clan for protection.

 

Afrah Adan Gagale, 27, a former Islamist fighter, said the court's leadership was corrupted by power and its sudden success. The courts seized Mogadishu in June after a surprising victory over U.S.-backed warlords, bringing a degree of stability to a country that had been without an effective government since 1991.

 

"Their ambition was high, but they had no plan," Gagale said.

 

He blamed the court militia's defeat on conflicting orders from superior officers, who first called for an attack and then a retreat. Many court supporters accused top security officer Yusuf Mohammed Siyad of mishandling the standoff. It was Siyad who issued the seven-day ultimatum for Ethiopian troops to leave the country and later publicly welcomed Islamic jihadists from around the world to come and fight in Somalia. Such rhetoric pushed Ethiopia to attack the Islamists on Christmas Eve.

 

"We could have stood up to the Ethiopians, but we were told to retreat," he said. "It was a betrayal." He added that the courts collapsed before paying fighters their $200 monthly salary.

 

Jamila Abdi Abdullahi, 21, is the mother of two small children and the wife of one of the Islamist militias' commanders. She and her husband were adherents to one of the courts' most hard-line factions, known as Shabab. She first worked as a nurse, and later picked up a gun to join fighters near the Ethiopia border last week.

 

Her husband fled with other Islamic leaders Thursday. She has stayed indoors since, afraid of being attacked.

 

She hoped to join her husband in Kismayo and resume the struggle against the government. But by Monday, Islamist fighters had again retreated, this time toward the Kenya border. Government soldiers held the port city of Kismayo.

 

"My work is to defend Islam and help those defending against the enemy," she said, predicting the courts would return to power soon. "Next year, we will be back in Mogadishu."

 

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/02/MNGT0NBDHA1.DTL