Somali president says U.S. backs warlords

[Al-khiyal]

The Islamist militia that now controls Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, has emerged out of a judicial system funded by the powerful business community to try and bring some law and order to a country without a government.

But over the past two years, the Union of Islamic Courts has emerged into Somalia's strongest fighting force - forcing the warlords who have controlled the capital for the past 15 years into retreat:

Profile: Somalia's Islamic Courts

[Al-khiyal]

Sheikh Sharif Ahmed

The Islamic militia that captured Mogadishu has vowed to turn Somalia into a religious state after winning a three-month battle for the capital.

"Until we get the Islamic state, we will continue with the Islamic struggle in Somalia," Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, chairman of Mogadishu Islamic courts, told a rally of hundreds of people on Tuesday.

Fuad Ahmed, a militiaman loyal to the Islamist side, said: "This is a long Islamic struggle and it will continue until the whole country comes under Sharia [Islamic] law.

"We are ready to shed our blood in order for that struggle to succeed."

Fighters loyal to Islamic courts seized the capital on Monday from a coalition of warlords, the so-called Alliance of the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT), which many observers say receives financial support from Washington. The US regards Somalia as a haven for militants linked to al-Qaeda.

The US has yet to react to the militia's call for an Islamic state, but Sean McCormack, the state department spokesman, said on Monday: "We do have real concerns about the presence of foreign terrorists in Somalia, and that informs an important aspect of our policy with regard to Somalia."

But an analyst with Chatham House, a British think-tank, said the establishment of an Islamic state in Somalia was not necessarily bad news.

Alex Vines, who heads its Africa Programme, said: "If it it has a unifying effect and brings back stability to the country, an Islamic state is in itself is not a threat.

"The lack of stability, the armed chaos and the absence of coherent control over the country is a bigger threat...."

Continue reading..... Mogadishu masters want Islamic state

[Al-khiyal]

Leader of Islamist fighters controlling Mogadishu warned U.S. it will pay dearly for any intervention in country:

Somali Islamists declare war on 'infidels'

[Al-khiyal]

Somali warlords prep for more fighting

[Al-khiyal]

On to the Islamic Republic of Somalia

[Al-khiyal]

International ramifications over Islamist victories in Somalia continue, with President George Bush declaring he will not allow the country to become an "al-Qa'ida haven" even as the militias themselves vowed to make the Horn of Africa "a land under the Qur'an".

Amid concerns that other states in the region may become destablised, Kenya yesterday kicked out a Somali warlord and announced it would ban others involved in the conflict from entering the country.

The developments follow the defeat of a coalition of US-backed warlords by Islamists who have taken control of the capital, Mogadishu, and have followed their enemies to the town of Jowhar, where a battle is thought to be imminent.....

More.....

[Al-khiyal]

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Warlords driven out of Mogadishu by Islamist militia are advancing back towards the Somali capital from their last stronghold of Jowhar, residents said on Thursday.

The residents, reached by telephone, told Reuters the Islamists were pulling back towards the town of Balad, which fell on Sunday and is on the road to the capital.

They said Jowhar warlords, reinforced by allies defeated in Mogadishu and Balad, had moved into positions south of the town that were previously occupied by the militia loyal to Mogadishu sharia courts.

"The (warlord) coalition has moved forward to Qalimoy, where the Islamic courts militia were yesterday. While the Islamic militia have moved back and are now in Gololey, which is 20 km (12 miles) from Balad," said local farmer Abdi Warsame.

"I think they moved back because their leaders are busy meeting in Mogadishu and they want to tighten their defences there."

The warlords have vowed to win back the capital.

Earlier, Islamic courts chairman Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said his forces would not push into Jowhar unless they were attacked.

Scores of residents had fled Jowhar fearing an Islamist offensive. They had stopped leaving on Thursday......

More.....