 Leading Somali Islamists have called for the formal introduction of sharia law to help impose order on the Horn of Africa nation whose 10 million people have been without government for 14 years. "We have a right to rule our people by Islamic law," said Abdulraman Farah, spokesman of the Islamic Congress meeting of more than 900 Islamists at a Mogadishu mosque.
| They're absolutely intent on ruling people. They refuse to govern, yet they're under the impression they'd be good rulers. The mind, if any, boggles... |
In the 14th attempt to reinstate central rule since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991, Somalia's Transitional Federal Government has relocated from Kenya but is struggling to establish its authority amid bickering and continued violence. Islamists, who have become more prominent in recent years during the absence of central authority, want the secular law in Somalia's transitional constitution replaced by strict Islamic law for the mainly Muslim population.
| They're really into lopping people's heads off, though they have hard boyz who do the actual catching... |
Sharia courts already function unofficially in Mogadishu. Hardline Islamists in Mogadishu have withheld their endorsement of President Abdullahi Yusuf's Ethiopian-backed government because it is not based in Islamic law. Although the new government's leaders are all Muslim, they are accused by their many foes of selling out by propagating Christian and anti-Islamic Western values.
| I'm not sure about that. Can anyone recall hearing the words "liberty" or "individual freedom" ever escape the collective proto-government lip? |
Currently, the sharia courts are the only form of semi-organised justice for Mogadishu's one million people. Clan rule also operates across Somalia. "Christians and Christian supporters have no chance of ruling in this nation of Islam," said a prominent Islamist, Sheik Mohamed Yasin, at the 9-day conference which ended late on Tuesday.
| Who the hell said they wanted to? |
Delegates at the meeting, including Hassan Dahir Aweis, head of the Mogadishu sharia courts, said it was the perfect opportunity to formalise sharia law. "This is the proper time to install Islamic administration in Somalia," said Ahmed Bile Ugas, an influential member of the al-Itihad organisation which Western security services view as sympathetic to terrorists.
Al-Itihaad al-Islamiyyah is the local Somali arm of al-Qaeda based in Mogadishu, though the recent ICG report sez they've branched out to other countries as well. These are the same bastards who were responsible for the events of "Black Hawk Down" as well as the death of Dutch and Pakistani peacekeepers during the same period. |