Bashir Goth: Could Mogadishu Islamic Courts be eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize?

[SOO MAAL]

Could Mogadishu Islamic Courts be eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize?

By BASHIR GOTH

June 22,2006

 

If impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools as remarked by Napoleon Bonaparte, the world may see the Somali Islamist fighters of the Union of Islamic Courts in Mogadishu reversing the trend of history by turning tables on advocates of the clash of civilizations, by inventing a new meaning for the concept of Islamism and by becoming alien contenders for the Nobel peace prize.

 

A bizarre idea you may say and I would agree with you as long as you and I are normal people living under normal circumstances. But imagine if you live 15 years in a state of lawlessness where your day starts with death and ends with death, where your only hope in life is to return safely to your family from the shortest trip to the bakery, where you live in constant fear of an imminent rape for the womenfolk of your household, where an hour without seeing a bullet riddled corpse at your doorstep is heaven's gift, where your children's lullaby is the sound of mortar explosions and their sleeping riddles is to compete with each other on figuring out which sound belonged to which gun. Imagine if you live in a city that has been destroyed beyond recognition, where 90 per cent of your neighborhood have either been killed or have left without any hope of returning, where ruthless warlords coercion you and rob you of anything of value that you own, where your relatives, your friends, your childhood classmates have either been murdered, crippled or have died on the high seas while seeking a safer place. Imagine you live in a city where the only familiar sound you hear, reminding you of the good old days and giving you hope for the future is the prayers' call coming from your neighborhood mosque.

 

This farcical situation is the life that millions of Somalis have led since 1991 when the late military dictator Mohahmmed Siyad Barre was driven out of power by a coalition of clan militias in 1991. Ever since, Somalia has fallen into the hands of feuding warlords who have divided the country into fiefdoms. The warlords have not only foiled the only humanitarian mission launched by the United Nations and international community for Somalia in 1992 to secure food supplies for tens of thousands of people trapped in war zones, but have blocked 14 attempts by the international community to restore peace and stability to Somalia.

 

Spreading a culture of gangsterism, big warlords have subcontracted lesser cronies, turning Mogadishu into the largest arms market in the Horn of Africa and a hiding place for terrorism.

 

They made dubious trade deals with international mafia companies that dumped all kinds of hazardous waste in Somalia's territorial waters and coastal areas. In their spree to capitalize on everything including the image and pride of the nation, the warlords have sent gunboats manned by trigger happy young men to the sea to hijack commercial ships, thus making the Somali coasts as one of the most dangerous and piracy infested waters on earth in the 21st century.

 

It is amid this background that Islamic clerics have stepped in to establish Islamic Sharia Courts with the aim of protecting their neighborhoods against the marauding militias of the various warlords. Tired of lawlessness and false hopes on stillborn transitional governments formed in foreign capitals, first in 2000 in Djibouti and in 2004 in Nairobi, the Somali people have found the idea of finding safety in their own neighborhoods, setting up their own bakeries and groceries, sending their children to school albeit Islamic Madrassas, and building their lives and peace in small steps to be more practical and attainable goals than building hopes on the return of a central government and restoration of peace and stability to a country that has been fragmentized beyond reparation. This is how local Imams preaching peace and brotherhood in the familiar language of Islam have won hearts and minds despite the terrorism stigma hanging over them like Damocles sword.

 

Using their greatest credence as dispensers of justice, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) began asserting their authority in 1999 by taking control of the main market and soon bringing the vital Mogadishu-Afgoi road under their control. As the warlords who held the country hostage for more than 15 years found themselves cornered they cried wolf, succeeding to exploit Washington's paranoia of Islamic extremism in the region.

 

The jubilation of the Somali people at the fall of the warlords from grace that they never earned was no less than the sense of liberation and freedom the people of Romania felt at the ousting and execution of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, a feeling that the .S.dministration needs to take note.

 

The rise of the Islamists in Mogadishu, however, has sent fears through the region, drawing analogues to the march of the Taliban against the warlords in Afghanistan.

 

These fears, however, are not unfounded as the ICU is not monolithic in its schools of thought and agenda and includes a kaleidoscopic mixture of Islamic movements such as Al Ittihad Al Islami, Al Takfiir Wal Hijra, Al Islah and Al Tabligh. The Al Ittihad Al Islami, an organization suspected by Washington of having links with Al Qaeda, was found to be behind the killings of foreign aid workers in Somaliland, the self-declared state over looking the Gulf of Aden. Armed militants arrested in Hargeisa confessed that they had been taking orders from Ahmed Hashi Ayro, an Afghan trained militant and a senior commander of the ICU forces. Ayro is also accused of being behind the digging up of the old Italian cemetery in Mogadishu and dumping human remains in garbage pits. Another senior ICU commander and head of one of the courts, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is on Washington's wanted list, is also former leader of the Al Ittihad Al Islami.

 

There are also worries that the ICU may whip up Islamic dissent in the hitherto peaceful and stable states of Puntland and Somaliland as well as neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. Suspicion is also building up that the ICU may re-ignite the old Somali irredentism, thus inciting the sizable Somali populations in Ethiopia and Kenya to take up arms against their governments to realize the dream of greater Somalia. Ethiopia, which is already entan

[Uthman1]

Their prize is with Allah

[me]

Bashir Goth is a sensationalist. Nice article, but usually he is full of c-rap.

[RedSea]

Mr. Me please comment on the article itself and the important things that it highlights rather than going directly at the author for what he is personal wise. The author seems to be pro-Islamic courts or shall I say united Somalilands under the Islamic banner, hence he wouldn't spent his time bringing up the positive notes about the courts.

 

Great article and very well written, thanks for posting it Mr. Soo Maal.

[Wiilo]

Wixii wanaag ah oo ay Shacabka u qabteyn Allah ayaa ka abaal marinaayo...

 

 

Go figure:.....

[JustCause]

"The author seems to be pro-Islamic courts"

Mr Red Sea, the author is confused, his article is full of contradiction and he is very far from 'pro-Islamic courts'.

 

I have to say from outset I dont support anyone in this conflict as they are all the same to me, all are criminals in my eyes. I dont believe in choosing the lesser of two evils.

 

The confusion of the author raises from his desire to use the ICU and at the same time hating everything they stand for.

 

and a hiding place for terrorism.

He alleges Mogadishu has become a hiding place for terrorist. Where is the evidence for that?? What is more for someone who is supporting the ICU or even believe in their cause wont utter such words.

 

 

As the warlords who held the country hostage for more than 15 years found themselves cornered they cried wolf, succeeding to exploit Washington's paranoia of Islamic extremism in the region.

Here he shows his hate for the warlords and shows us how they got American support. For someone who said Mogadishu has become a hiding place for terrorist wont have said the above unless he is confused and dont believe it has become the hiding place he alleges!

 

The Al Ittihad Al Islami, an organization suspected by Washington of having links with Al Qaeda, was found to be behind the killings of foreign aid workers in Somaliland, the self-declared state over looking the Gulf of Aden. Armed militants arrested in Hargeisa confessed that they had been taking orders from Ahmed Hashi Ayro, an Afghan trained militant and a senior commander of the ICU forces. Ayro is also accused of being behind the digging up of the old Italian cemetery in Mogadishu and dumping human remains in garbage pits. Another senior ICU commander and head of one of the courts, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is on Washington's wanted list, is also former leader of the Al Ittihad Al Islami.

 

There are also worries that the ICU may whip up Islamic dissent in the hitherto peaceful and stable states of Puntland and Somaliland as well as neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya.

After having used the ICU and now he turns against them. This guy the last thing he ever wants is a government claiming to be Islamic! Both ICU and the warlords of the south are people his dislikes in equal measures.

 

Those are my two cents for this article

[RedSea]

Good points, however, you mentioned that you believe that both the courts and warlords are just two sides of the same coin, there I might have to disagree with you as well as I am sure that the majority population of Southern Somalia would too, with whom peace and stability has being restore in their regions by the Courts whom you unfortunately have put the same measures as the warlords who were the prime reason for the continues problems that were occuring in Southern Somalia for the last 16 years.

 

I don't see any comparison between these two groups, their difference is hope and death, and my choice of how I see them is choice between light and darkness.

 

I have no doubt in my mind that the courts are and will turn out for the better of ALL Somali people everywhere, only if given the chance and oppurtunity. We all have witnessed the continues failures of trying to bring peace between waring warlords for the last 15 years or so, now let us give these men a chance to prove to us what no one else did for the somali people. I think they have what it takes, it's matter of time and trust.

 

that is all,

 

peace.

[JustCause]

Good points, however, you mentioned that you believe that both the courts and warlords are just two sides of the same coin, there I might have to disagree with you as well as I am sure that the majority population of Southern Somalia would too,

Mr Red Sea, there is nothing wrong on disagreeing on issues provided we don't kill each other over the disagreements! I respect your views (even when I don't agree with them) and all I would ask of you don't be put all your hopes on these guys, if hope for a better future is what you are looking for.

 

the Courts whom you unfortunately have put the same measures as the warlords who were the prime reason for the continues problems that were occuring in Southern Somalia for the last 16 years.

I have put them in the same basket as the warlords because the courts helped to maintain the warlords all these time; they were created with the blessing of the warlords and haven't heard them ever bring one warlord ever to justice. Remember they only disagreed recently and thus could well make up tomorrow and therefore continue their unholy alliance against Somali people for another 10 years if not more.

 

I have no doubt in my mind that the courts are and will turn out for the better of ALL Somali people everywhere, only if given the chance and oppurtunity.

What evidence do you have for this hope/feeling? So far all the justices that I have seen dispensed through the courts is barbaric justices and is targeted towards the weak and the poor. I have not as yet seen anyone powerful enough who has committed crimes being brought forward.

 

Justice has to be fair and even handed. Justice is only justice when the poor/weak can get justice against the strong. So far that hasn't happened and I don't see any signs happening. Until the traffic changes direction and see the poor and the weak getting justices I would continue to treat the courts the same way I treat the warlords.