Somalia: Fighting warlords, yet allied to warlords?

[SOO MAAL]

Somalia: Fighting warlords, yet allied to warlords?

 

(Posted: 17/06/06) EDITORIAL | Warlord Indha Ade has a particularly dark history in contemporary Somalia.

 

 

THE VICTORIOUS Union of Islamic Courts militias are on the march. After expelling warlords from Mogadishu on June 5th, the last warlord stronghold of Jowhar fell by the 14th, and was followed overnight by a bloodless coup in the central Somalia city of Beletwein. The masses gathered and cheered the overthrow of the despised warlords as much as their brethren cheered in the past before them, with the departure of European colonialism and the collapse of a 21-year military dictatorship.

 

To their credit, the Islamic Courts have utilized their disciplined militias to restore the semblance of law and order in Somalia’s unstable Capital – a monumental task in and of itself. While the united Courts’ militias have proven undefeatable on the battlefield, the leadership has portrayed itself internationally as a moderate voice capable of securing the peace.

 

The Islamic Courts’ ideological foundation rests on the teachings of Islam, which is the only religion in Somalia. In this regard, the Somali people hold the Courts to a high standard not only as an alternative power to the warlords and to other factions, but as pious leaders who conduct their affairs in a just and moral manner.

 

While allied to "some" warlords, the Islamic Courts undertook a massive campaign to rid Mogadishu of its notorious warlords. This practice creates a moral and ideological dilemma for a rising Somali faction that has just made a worldwide name for itself.

 

Courts’ success

 

February 18, 2006, was a fateful day. It was the day Mogadishu’s warlords unwittingly signed their own death warrant by declaring the U.S.-backed Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terror (ARPCT). The ARPCT included then-powerful warlords and allied business interests with the intent of capturing “international terrorists†they alleged were being harbored by the Islamic Courts. Many believe the ARPCT made such unfounded allegations to garner U.S. financial aid and Ethiopian weaponry.

 

Public support grew exponentially for the Islamic Courts as news surfaced of covert U.S. support for the ARPCT warlord coalition. The Courts utilized the growing public support – and its image as an alternative power – to mobilize the masses against the ARPCT warlords. After a four-month power struggle in Mogadishu that led to over 300 deaths and more than 1,500 wounded, the Islamic Courts emerged victorious; for the first time since Somali President General Mohamed Siad Barre fled Mogadishu in 1991, Somalia’s national Capital came under the control of a single power.

 

Mogadishu’s defeated and disgraced warlords fled to the nearby town of Jowhar, where another ARPCT warlord – Mohamed “Dhere†Omar Habeb – erected defenses to counter an imminent attack from the Courts. That attack came on June 14th. By then, the warlords had fled to central Somalia regions and Mohamed Dhere was in Ethiopia.

 

On the international front, the Courts leadership published a June 6th letter they sent to the American government. Aiming to quell American (Western) fears of the Courts’ alleged ties to “international terrorism,†the letter read: “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.â€1

 

As it were, the Courts distanced themselves from being compared to the Taliban movement of Afghanistan – which was the typical mantra in the Western press – and secured themselves a unique image on the international stage. After all, the Union of Islamic Courts succeeded where the U.S. and the U.N. failed more than a decade ago: they secured Mogadishu.

 

Roots and causes

 

The first Islamic Courts were established in Mogadishu in the ‘90s to combat petty crime in select neighborhoods where militiamen ruled the streets with impunity, killing, kidnapping and raping virtually at will. The Chairman of the Union of Islamic Courts, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, was a school teacher before the kidnapping of his child motivated him to combat the parasitical warlords who thrived in disorder and catapulted him into action as a leader within the then-emerging Islamic Courts movement.

 

Far from being a wholly monolithic group, the Courts were founded and based on Somali social mores as were their predecessors, the warlords: each Court was founded by, and is permanently attached to, a particular clan or sub-clan. The term “union†in their official name – the Union of Islamic Courts – refers to a merger of more than 11 recognized Courts in Mogadishu with the same objective: restore the rule of law. The Courts have enacted a functioning legal system in areas they control that is based on Islamic (Shariah) law.

 

From fighting petty criminals, the Courts’ role in Mogadishu – and, eventually, in Somalia – was radically transformed by the war of liberation they spearheaded against the ARPCT warlords. The public, disillusioned and wary of the warlords, threw their massive support behind the Islamic Courts militias as they cleansed warlord strongholds, one after another.

 

In a speech to the residents of Jowhar on June 14th, Chairman Sheik Sharif said that the Courts would establish a “just†administration for the town. Aside from taking an indirect jab at ex-Jowhar warlord Mohamed Dhere, who was mysteriously in absentia when his stronghold bent to Courts control, Chairman Sheik Sharif faces an ideological crisis with the potential of tarnishing – if not devastating – the respectable reputation the Courts have enjoyed thusfar in the Somali political fora.

 

Allied to the devil?

 

One can hardly miss the irony in Chairman Sheik Sharif’s comments to the townspeople of Jowhar. Militias loyal to Islamic Courts-allied warlord Yusuf “Indhaade†Mohamed Siad – the white-eyed devil that controls Lower Shabelle region – led the charge into Jowhar on June the 14th. Warlord Indhaade fancies himself as a “sheik†and certain Somali media outlets refer to him as such. Reality has always stated otherwise, however.

 

Warlord Indhaade has a particularly dark history in contemporary Somalia. His militias have been involved in virtually every major intra-clan conflict in the southern theatre of the country. Whenever two clansmen fought, Indhaade was quick to become the third party and tip the balance of power.

 

When Bashir Rageh – ex-Mogadishu businessman allied to the now-defunct ARPCT – fought against Abukar Adani, a leading financer of the Islamic Courts, warlord Indhaade threw the weight of his militias behind Adani, who eventually succeeded in routing Rageh from his stronghold in the outskirts of northern Mogadishu.

 

In early 2005, internecine violence erupted in the city of Baidoa – a major trading center and the current home of the Somali transitional federal government (TFG) – between two opposing RRA (Rahawein Resistance Army) factions. The Associated Press reported that, “The self-proclaimed leader of neighboring Lower Shabelle region, Sheik Yusuf Mohamed Siad Indha Ade, said he had sent fighters and pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns to Baidoa to back Habsadeh.â€2 (During that struggle for control of Baidoa, Habsadeh led the RRA faction that opposed the TFG’s attemps to temporarily house itself in the city. Supported by Indha Ade’s militias, Habsadeh’s RRA faction was successful in expelling the TFG-allied RRA faction from Baidoa).

 

Warlord Indha Ade’s dark history hardly stops there. An October 2005 report released by the United Nations Security Council on violations of the 1992 arms embargo on Somalia portrayed the true nature of the white-eyed devil of the fertile Shabelle valley. The U.N. report stated that, to exercise control of the region, “Indha Ade has his own militia, made up of men from his clan, and other militias from the same clan group, ****** .â€3

 

Indha Ade uses his clansmen to impose clan hegemony on the unarmed civilian population of Lower Shabelle region, which has suffered successive invasions since the collapse of the Somali nation-state in 1991. As things stand today, all the district commissioners of Lower Shabelle region are from warlord Indha Ade’s sub-clan within the ****** clan-family. The non-****** clans who have traditionally inhabited Lower Shabelle region consider the presence of warlord Indha Ade’s militias in their home region as an occupation and native resistance fighters have carried out covert operations against the positions of Indhaade’s militias.

 

Furthermore, the U.N. report publicized warlord Indha Ade’s drug operations: “Indha Ade also owns drug farms in the area under his control,†the report read. The resounding question in the minds of many is this: How can a man claim to be a “sheik†but run, according to the U.N. report, a “sophisticated†drug operation in the fertile region he occupies through his clan's military muscle?

 

Justice for all

 

History will remember the Union of Islamic Courts for their liberation of Mogadishu on June 5, 2006. It wasn’t liberation from Italian or British colonialization. It was liberation from warlord Somalis who imposed an austere, autocratic rule in segments of the Capital and held the people of Mogadishu – and Somalia-at-large – hostage for more than 15 years.

 

According to Islamic Courts rhetoric, Somalia lacks justice and they believe in dispensing justice founded on Islamic principles throughout the nation. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this noble ideal and, in fact, the vast majority of Somali people would wholeheartedly welcome and support such selfless endeavor.

 

However, “justice†is a universal concept and has profound significance in Islam. In the Noble Qur’an, Allah (God), the Creator of everything, says:

 

“O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor…â€4

 

Therein lies Islam’s conceptualization of justice: it is blind and it applies to everyone. It is unfortunate that the Islamic Courts allied with warlord Indha Ade’s militias in their military campaign against the ARPCT warlords. Is Yusuf “Indha Ade†Mohamed Siad not a warlord? Is he then, as he claims, a pious, learned scholar of Islam (a sheik)? Or is he a hypocrite, as most believe, hiding under the cloak of Islam to conceal his illegal and immoral activities, including the subjugation of Muslim people, the trafficking of drugs and violent expansionist policies?

 

Yusuf Indha Ade is a first-rate warlord and drug boss. Some will argue that, under Indha Ade’s rule, Lower Shabelle region has been relatively peaceful, which is true. But the same could be said of Middle Shabelle region under the governorship of Mohamed Dhere; in fact, the TFG was first based in Jowhar and spent the second half of 2005 there. The fact that ex-Jowhar warlord Mohamed Dhere’s trenches were overrun while warlord Indha Ade’s military occupation of Lower Shabelle region is not even mentioned can be refered to as “selective justice†on the part of the Islamic Courts. Worse, using militias loyal to warlord Indha Ade to help oust warlord Mohamed Dhere from Jowhar is outright hypocritical and most certainly not in line with the Islamic Courts’ rhetoric of seeking to establish a just and moral society.

 

The Union of Islamic Courts is sending the wrong signal to the Somali people. The people support the Courts because they want peace founded on social justice. And justice must be applied to everyone – not just to “some†warlords while others, such as Indhaade, remain untouchable.

 

The Courts’ future success depends less on what America thinks of them and more on whether or not they can convince the Somali public that theirs truly is a righteous cause. For starters, they can begin by disassociating themselves from warlord Indhaade, dismantling his militias and delivering "justice" to the natives of Lower Shabelle region.

 

Garowe Online Editorial Board

editorial@garoweonline.com

 

Cited:

 

1-Chairman Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed.

Letter to the United States of America. 6 June 2006.

http://www.time.com/time/world/printout/0,8816,1201291,00.htm

 

2-Hassan, Mohamed Olad. “Fighting erupts in Somalia for control of town.â€

Mail & Guardian: 30 May 2005.

 

 

3-United Nation Security Council. Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia pursuant to Security Council resolution 1587. 4 October 2005.www.reliefweb.int/library/documents/2005/unsc-som-07Oct.pdf

 

4 4:135, the Noble Qur'an.

[QUANTUM LEAP]

Time for a change whatever the change is .....I just hope history doesnt repeat itself in the case of Somalia and Somalis. There is a Wind of change lets hope it blows in the right direction...

[Abdi2005]

Originally posted by SOO MAAL:

Is Yusuf “Indha Ade†Mohamed Siad not a warlord? Is he then, as he claims, a pious, learned scholar of Islam (a sheik)? Or is he a hypocrite, as most believe, hiding under the cloak of Islam to conceal his illegal and immoral activities,

The prostration mark on his face is far better evidence to me that he is not a hypocrite compared to the claim of a man(the author)who hypocritically at the same time will energetically praise and defend an open hypocrite and ethiopian daba dhilif A/Ysufu,

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

Abdi, Odeygu muxu kugu samayey?

[SOO MAAL]

 

I welcome Islamic courts union and their victory over notorious warlords, ICU brought a positive change to Somalia,

 

But Indhacadde’s role in ICU is creating contradictions, I believe Sheikh Shariif and the leadership of ICU should force Warlord Indhacadde to resign because ha is liability, and damaging the credibility of ICU in across Somalia and the world

 

If Shariif cannot force Indhacadde to resign, then Shariif should consider resigning himself

 

Allah bless Somalia

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Salaan...

 

Indhamadoowe to resign? Aahahahaah. Waa riyooneysiin, macalimiinta.

 

Indhamadoowe is not only part of so-called 'maxkamadaha,' but is maxkamadaha. Period.

 

Neither can function without the other. The day ay fara gishtaan awoodiisa, Eebbaa awood lahee, is the day they are finished. The day they try to take Afgooye -- only 30 kilometres away from central Xamar -- and install maxkamad ku sheeg is the day they are finished. Sababta ay Jalalaqsi u qabsadeen and soon heading to Beledweyne, but not liberating Afgooye oo kasoo horjeedo Xamar, iskaba dhaaf other towns, tells you waxee yihiin -- qabyaaladist birimo, sugunto and teerso oo diinteena suuban ku ganbanaayo.

 

It is very interesting no body of the defenders of maxkamadaha ku sheega is ever coming here and condemning the father of dagaal-ooge and the mother of qabiilist. [He himself admits this on publically, saying he is the first defender of his sub-clan, and anybody soo fara gishto xabbadiis taqaano.]

 

Not even do they have a contempt for him, iskaba dhaaf inay condemn gareyaan. Deliberately blinding themselves on the issues won't get away, as they pray for it.

 

Indhamadoowe is the cause célèbre of maxkamadaha ku sheega, and he will eventually be what unravels it, if not completely destroying it.

[SOO MAAL]

Dr. Cali Khaliif Galaydh, Oo ah Barre Sare/Professor wax ka dhiga Jaamacadda Minnesota, Iskuulka Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. By:Liibaan Jordan

 

Dr. Cali Khaliif Galaydh waxaa laga waraystay socdaalkiisii uu dhawaan ku tagay dalka Soomaaliya, iyo arrimaha dhawaan ka soo cusboonaaday Soomaaliya,

 

khaasatan magaalada Mugdisho oo uu dagaal xoogani ku dhexmaray Xooggaga Maxaakiimta Islaamka iyo Ururka Nabad Dib u Soocellinta iyo la Dagaalanka Argagaxisada. Dagaalkaas oo ay ku xoog roonaadeen Xooggaga Maxaakiimta Islaamka.

 

Halkan Ka Dhegayso Waraysigii Proff: Cali Khaliif Galaydh!