UIC Press Release

[-Lily-]

I don't know if this has already been posted, I thought it was interesting to say the least.

 

 

The Union of Islamic Courts in Mogadishu break the silence (Press Release)

 

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

 

To: United Nations Political Office in Somalia, UNDP Resident Representative, The League of Arab Nations, African Union, Organization of Islamic Countries, IGAD, European Union, Department of State, United States Government, United States Embassy in Nairobi, Italian Embassy, French Embassy, British Embassy, German Embassy, Djibouti Embassy, Norwegian Embassy, Swedish Embassy, South African Embassy, Egyptian Embassy, Nigerian Embassy, Saudi Embassy, Yemen Embassy, Sudan Embassy.

 

 

Date: June 5, 2006

The Union of Islamic Courts in Mogadishu, have decided to break the silence between us and the international community. We made this decision in order to clarify the situation in Mogadishu and to bring the true picture of the conflict in the city and present it to the international community.

 

Background:

The Islamic courts have been established in Mogadishu in mid 1998 and are clan-based that serve their particular communities. For example Polytechnic(for Shabelle sub clan), Ifka Halane (for the Eary Sub-Clan), Yaqshid (for the ***** -Abgal sub clan), Circole (for the Saleban Sub-clan), Milk Factory (Duduble sub-clan), Al-Furqan (Sa’ad sub-clan) Xariryale and Daynile (Murusade clan), Balad (Wabudhan-Abgal Sub-Clan) etc. The main objectives of these courts to provide a minimum security, law and order to the communities that established them. The courts assume these responsibilities out of patriotism and service to our people, country and communities.

 

The Present Conflict

 

 

Sheikh Sherif Sheikh Ahmed - Chairman, Islamic Courts Union

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

A Retrospective analysis of why the Somali Federal Government could not locate in the capital city, Mogadishu was due to the “warlord†ministers of the Somali Federal Government who refused to be engaged in the Somali peace process and choose to keep the country hostage. These warlords refused to disarm, surrender their illegal checkpoints and transform to be national leaders.

The present conflict has been fueled by the wrong information given to the US Government by these warlords who have denied their basic human needs for security and development and kept the Somali people hostages and terrorized them for the last 16 years. Their expertise is to terrorize people and they were able to use it and terrorize the American government by misinforming them about the presence of terrorists in Somalia. These warlords are allegedly supported by the American government ignores the long criminal history of these warlords and the war crimes they committed against their own people. The alleged support of the US government to these warlords has considerable contributed to the recent fighting in Mogadishu and the killing of the Somali people who has suffered so long in the hand of these warlords.

Finally, after 16 years, the Somali people have decided to liberate themselves with the leadership of the Islamic court. The present changes were brought by the appraisal and refusal of the Somali people the anarchic situation installed by the warlords and said enough is enough!

We would also like to address some of the misinformation and accusations fabricated by the warlords and wish to provide the international communities with accurate information that will assist them to support the desires and the will of our people who wish to be free form violence and anarchy,

 

 

International Terrorism:

1) Somalia is a homogenous society, and any outsiders can be spot immediately. We are Muslim 100%, speak the same language and have cultural heritage that is very hard to understand for outsiders. We have a complex clan based system that is not easy for non-Somali to understand, let alone hide in the country. We categorically deny and reject any accusation that we are harboring any terrorists or supporters of terrorism in the areas where the courts operate.

 

2) We also confirm that our goals and objectives are to establishment law and order in our country and free our people from oppression.

 

3) We share no objectives, goals or methods with groups that sponsor or support terrorism. We have no foreign elements in our courts, and we are simply here because of the need of the community we serve.

 

4) We invite the International Community to visit the area where the court operates and see for themselves if there are any terrorists elements being harbored or living in this area. We commit ourselves and our clan elders to this position: to be open and honest in order to spare the Somali people the violence and the suffering being perpetrated by the warlords. We have nothing to hide from the international community and we strongly believe that, once they realize what we do and what we have achieved, they will support our initiative and efforts to bring peace and stability to Somalia.

 

5) There is also the accusation that we intend to establish an anti-US and Western government in Somalia. This is not true. Such an agenda is against our objectives and goals since this would contradict our wish for there to be a peaceful Somalia. This falsehood is being fabricated to get support from US Government by groups who have terrorized the people of this country for the last 16 years.

 

6) We want create an environment that could enable our people to decide their future. We want the Somali people to decide which form of governance they want and choose their leaders for the first time in decades.

 

We would like to summarize our goals and objectives as follows:

 

1) To establish a system of governance in Mogadishu, and remove all the checkpoints and terror points that the warlords have set up and disarm all criminal elements that endanger the peace in the city;

 

2) We want to contribute to the rebuilding of our country and create a peaceful environment and a country that is at peace with itself, and with its neighbors and with the international community.

 

3) To rehabilitate and rebuild all the city infrastructures specially those that belong to the city governments, including its sea ports, airports, road, bridges, schools, hospitals, universities and have committees of the intellectuals running and operating of these facilities;

 

4) We would like to establish a friendly relationship with the international community that is based on mutual respect and interest and seek their support for the Somali peace process and respect their desire for peace.

 

5) We seek support for our communities who have been denied all the basic human needs such as security, liberty and development as accepted universally and in accordance to the human rights laws;

We thank you in advance for your kind patience, understanding and support.

 

 

Sheikh Sherif Sheikh Ahmed

Chairman, Islamic Courts Union

 

Source: The Union of Islamic Courts in Mogadishu, June 6, 2006

 

from: http://www.hiiraan.com/news/2006/jun/somali_news6_7.aspx

[N.O.R.F]

A politically savy UIC is a very encouraging sight. To draft such a letter in order to pre-empt the mis-understanding of the situation by foreign powers is very well thought and executed.

 

May there be eternal peace IA, ameen

[Resistance]

Nicely done press release.

[N.O.R.F]

Somali Islamic state 'ruled out'

 

The Union of Islamic Courts does not want to impose a Taleban-style Islamic state in Somalia, says their leader.

Sharif Shaikh Ahmed told the BBC they had no political aims beyond enabling the people to decide their own future.

 

His militiamen have been seeking to shore up support after taking over the Somali capital from warlords on Monday.

 

President Bush has expressed concern over the recent unrest and has warned the US will ensure Somalia does not become a safe haven for terrorists.

 

"Obviously when there's instability anywhere in the world we're concerned. There is instability in Somalia," Mr Bush said on Tuesday.

 

"First concern of course would be to make sure that Somalia does not become an al-Qaeda safe haven, doesn't become a place from which terrorists plot and plan," he added.

 

The US was accused of backing the warlords defeated by the Islamists but has neither confirmed nor denied the persistent reports.

 

Sharia law concerns

 

Sharif Sheikh Ahmed told the BBC Arabic service that the Islamic Courts were not a movement.

 

 

Map of Mogadishu

"They are a kind of popular revolution by the Somali people after 16 years of anarchy and killing, plunder and kidnapping," he said.

 

"This body is not a political one. Rather we want to give power back to the Somali people so it can make its own decisions and decide its own destiny."

 

The violence in Mogadishu has been the most serious for a decade with some 330 people killed and about 1,500 injured in the past month.

 

It began when warlords who had divided Mogadishu into fiefdoms united to form the Anti-Terrorism Alliance to tackle the Islamic courts, who they accused of sheltering foreign al-Qaeda militants.

 

The Islamic courts deny this. They were originally set up in Mogadishu as a grassroots movement by businessmen to establish some law and order in a city without any judicial system.

 

'New era'

 

The Islamic militia warns it is now within 20km (12 miles) of Jowhar, the town where the defeated warlords fled.

 

However, clan elders have warned the Islamists not to attack Jowhar.

 

A senior Somali MP told the BBC's Network Africa programme that the takeover of Mogadishu could be a step towards ending years of anarchy.

 

Former Information Minister Mohamud Jama said the Islamic courts might improve the security situation in the capital and make negotiations with the interim government easier.

 

On Monday, Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi, whose government wants talks, sacked four Mogadishu-based warlords who had been serving as ministers, as they were losing the battle for the capital.

 

bbc

[N.O.R.F]

Mogadishu battle - turning point for peace?

 

While some Somalis - and certainly the US - are deeply dismayed at the sight of the Islamic militia seizing control of Mogadishu, others argue that it may prove it to be a turning point in the peace process.

Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi says he would rather deal with the Union of Islamic Courts than the warlords who have controlled Somali's capital for the past 15 years.

 

"It was an excellent step forward... because they [warlords] were not ready for a government, they were not ready for peace," he told Radio France Internationale.

 

Mr Ghedi's transitional government was set up after two years of sometimes tortuous peace talks in neighbouring Kenya between all of Somalia's different clans and armed groups.

 

Great care was taken to ensure that all sides were represented.

 

As a result, the Mogadishu warlords were all named as ministers even though many did not really believe in the government.

 

'Opportunity'

 

Optimists say that if the Islamic courts do consolidate their grip on the capital, negotiations between just two groups may prove simpler, leading to the country's first effective national authority for 15 years.

 

Islamist leader Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Mr Ghedi, based in Baidoa, 250km (155 miles) north-west of the capital, have both said they are ready for dialogue.

 

Editor of the BBC Somali service Yusuf Garaad Omar says the fact that a single entity controls the capital is a huge opportunity to bring peace to Somalia.

 

 

"The Islamic courts and the transitional government need each other," he says. "One is the legal government, the other is a popular force in control of the capital."

 

But he warns that it is only a step forward on a long road towards the end of war.

 

He says the Islamic courts are likely to become whatever others want them to be.

 

If treated with respect - as partners - they could turn into the group which delivers the capital to the government and so end years of conflict.

 

But if they are viewed as a hotbed of Islamic extremism, that too, could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

Personal history

 

The moderate leader of the Islamic Courts Union, Sharif Shaikh Ahmed, has said that his militia does not want to impose a Taliban-style Islamic state on Somalia.

 

But some Islamic courts officials have said they would only support a government based on Islam.

 

Furthermore, President Abdullahi Yusuf fought a successful campaign against a previous Somali Islamist armed group, al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, when he was in charge of the northern region of Puntland.

 

Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys is a key figure in the Islamic courts.

 

Mr Aweys has said he has nothing against Mr Yusuf personally but this history could make negotiations difficult.

 

President Yusuf condemned the US for allegedly backing the warlords against the Islamic courts.

 

But he did not say it was morally wrong - just that the money should be channelled through his government instead.

 

Mr Ahmed has said he wants an end to the fighting, which has killed at least 350 in the past few weeks.

 

But there are reports that his militias are advancing on Jowhar, where some warlords have fled.

 

More conflict?

 

Fresh from what seems to be a comprehensive victory in Mogadishu, the Islamic courts might seek to achieve what no other group has managed since 1991 - to conquer the whole country.

 

President Yusuf was last year trying to build up a new national army and may command the loyalty of gunmen from Puntland.

 

However, US-based Somali analyst Omar Jamal says the Islamic court could defeat government forces, if they so wished.

 

"If the Islamic leaders want, they could kick the government out of Baidoa very easily - not only on military grounds, but also on political grounds, the government is so weak, the Islamic extremists are far ahead in gaining the hearts and minds of the people," he told the AP news agency.

 

"This war will not stop in Mogadishu."

 

Another possibility, just as bleak, would be that the US is so concerned that the Islamic courts were harbouring al-Qaeda elements that they hugely increased their support for whichever group promised to fight them.

 

This would only prolong the instability that most Somalis are desperate to put behind them.

 

bbc

[Allamagan]

Good PR. May Allah help them to achieve their goals. They also need our support and prayer

 

am