Islamic clerics' council denounces Al Shabaab land grabs

[General Duke]

Islamic clerics' council denounces Al Shabaab land grabs

10 Dec 10, 2008 - 5:43:19 PM

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia Dec 10 (Garowe Online) - A group of Islamic clerics in Somalia who have been undertaking efforts to mediate among Islamic Courts Union (ICU) factions in recent months have declared that it is "illegal" for ICU factions to capture new territory.

 

Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salad, chairman of the Islamic committee, told a Wednesday press conference in the capital Mogadishu that all factions should stay away from any act that could lead to "hostilities among brothers."

 

 

"It is illegal to capture new land while enemy troops are [still] inside the country and also it is prohibited to destroying existing administrations," Sheikh Bashir said.

 

He warned that "every step taken in the wrong direction will help the enemy."

 

Islamist factions were instructed "not to fight for love of a man, for show-of-force or for seizing new land," warning that such thinking could "weaken the jihad."

 

"We support the jihad against enemy forces [foreign troops] in our country and we welcome victories attained over the past two years of war," Sheikh Bashir added.

 

This group of Muslim sheikhs has been actively issuing public statements as a measure of guiding a self-appointed mission to mediate among rival ICU factions.

 

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, ICU executive head who signed a peace pact with the Ethiopian-backed Somali government, recently dismissed the Islamic clerics' rejection of the Djibouti Agreement. READ: Islamic scholars should ‘stay away from politics,' says Sheikh Sharif

 

Al Shabaab insurgents, who broke off from the ICU, have been steadily seizing new regions since the August capture of Kismayo, an important port city in Somalia's deep south.

 

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Source: Garowe Online