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| Africa Horn |
| Islamist leader admitted US contact and condemned civilian casualties |
| 2007-02-04 |
| (SomaliNet) The ousted Islamic Courts Union has strongly supported on Friday what they called “the civil upraising” against the presence of the Ethiopian forces in Somalia particular in Mogadishu, the top Islamist leader Sheik Sharif said. In an interview with Shabelle Radio in Mogadishu, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed the leader of executive council of Islamic Courts who is now in Nairobi under the custody of Kenyan authority condemned the attacks that caused the civilian casualties in the capital. “I support any insurgent attack against the Ethiopian forces in Mogadishu but it is un-Islamic and inhuman to kill the civilians,” said Sheik Ahmed urging the Ethiopian forces to withdraw from Somalia if they want peace,” He said every nation in the world, whose country is occupied, has the rights to defend itself through any means, and the Somali nation has the right to fight for its freedom so we see the fight as just in order to evict the Ethiopian occupiers out of their country. He said the Ethiopian troops have illegally occupied Somalia. “Their departure from the country is inevitable” He warned the deployment of AU peacekeepers in Somalia saying any foreign troops would not bring a solution to the crisis in the country. Sheik Ahmed pointed out that foreign troops that intervened Somalia in 1990s ended in failure. “We do not need another failure. If bringing troops to Somalia, Somalia’s scholars, religious leaders, the Courts and business people should be consulted with and it should be agreed commonly,” he added. He welcomed the call of the Somali’s interim president Abdulahi Yusuf for reconciliation conference as positive step. “It is actually good to hold dialogue for rival sides in Somalia if the government is making this real,” he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |