An Islamic leader on a U.S. terrorist list threatened a holy war Friday if an African peacekeeping force enters Somalia to try to install a new government and stop more than decade of clan warfare. Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, a former Somali army colonel suspected of having ties with the al-Qaida terror group, told reporters that allowing foreign troops into Somalia was contrary to Islamic teachings. It would be the religious duty of all Somalis to fight any peacekeeping force, he said. Clan fighters might find God's forgiveness for helping plunge Somalia into chaos if they cleansed "themselves with the blood of the foreign invaders," Aweys said.Somalia's new government in exile, which so far has been unable to establish itself in the Horn of Africa country because of the security concerns, has asked the African Union to send a peacekeeping force to secure the capital, Mogadishu. Regional leaders have pledged to send 6,800 troops to back up the new government, which is made up of warlords and clan leaders. Islamic fundamentalists, who make up a very small percentage of Somalia society, refused to participate in the peace process.
This week, clan fighting that broke out in the western Baikol region left at least 20 people dead, a witness reached by two-way radio said. "Most of the dead were combatants from both sides, though several civilians were killed," said Shiek Omar Gaab. The fighting appeared to be related to a months-long dispute over grazing land and water wells, he added.
The normally reclusive Aweys told a news conference in Mogadishu that he did not reject the new government, led by his longtime rival President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, but said if it was truly legitimate, it would not need foreign troops to protect it. "Somalia needs a government, an administration for the restoration of the rule of law," he said. "But that does not mean Somalia needs foreigners to restore them their dignity."
Aweys led Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, a Somali group that the United States says has ties to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror organization. Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya and Aweys are on a list of terror groups and suspected terrorists that are under U.S. and U.N. sanctions. Aweys has denied having any ties to al-Qaida or being involved in terrorism. While many Somalis, including Aweys, insist al-Itihaad no longer exists after Ethiopian troops attacked the group in 1993, a U.N. investigative team reported on March 14 that Aweys was still leading the group and he had established 17 training camps to prepare militiamen to fight the new government and the AU peacekeepers.
Aweys spoke cryptically about his own militia and the Islamic courts he has established to bring order to the central Galgudud region, north of Mogadishu. "We can disarm our militias, if we're serious, it wouldn't take us six months to pacify the Somali capital for the new government to work peacefully," he said. "While in the central region, I discovered that the Somalis really need a real leadership whom they can trust with their destiny."
The interim Somali parliament, during a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, dissolved into a brawl March 17 over whether neighboring countries would be allowed to contribute troops to a peacekeeping force. The interim president is a close ally of Ethiopia and has suggested Ethiopian troops might be used to help secure Somalia, despite objections from most of the lawmakers.