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Somali Islamists dismiss idea of peacekeepers

Members of the radical Islamic group that controls Somalia’s capital met African, Arab and European officials Thursday and repeated their opposition to the deployment of peacekeepers to stabilize the lawless country.
Officials from the Supreme Islamic Courts, from left, Sheikh Abdirahman Janagow and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Abdulkadi Ali, during their meeting with officials from the AU and Arab League in Mogadishu, Somalia on Thursday.
Officials from the Supreme Islamic Courts, from left, Sheikh Abdirahman Janagow and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Abdulkadi Ali, during their meeting with officials from the AU and Arab League in Mogadishu, Somalia on Thursday. Mohamed Sheikh Nor / AP
/ Source: The Associated Press

Members of the radical Islamic group that controls Somalia’s capital met African, Arab and European officials Thursday and repeated their opposition to the deployment of peacekeepers to stabilize the lawless country.

A 24-member delegation from the African Union, Arab League, European Union and an east African organization was in Somalia to assess security conditions ahead of possible deployment of peacekeepers. The force is intended to secure a weak, U.N.-backed transitional government challenged by the Supreme Islamic Courts Council, help disarm at least 55,000 militia fighters and train a new national army.

“We believe that alien forces are both unnecessary and counterproductive,” leaders of Islamic council said in a statement distributed to their visitors. “The Somali problem is a political one, and cannot be resolved by military means.”

Demonstrations against foreign troops
The Islamic group has organized several demonstrations against foreign troops. It captured Mogadishu in June after fighting with secular warlords and has expanded its control over much of southern Somalia, while the transitional government holds only one town, Baidoa, 155 miles northwest of the capital.

The African, Arab and European visitors met leaders of the Islamic group a day after holding talks with the interim government, which has appealed for a peacekeeping force.

The peacekeeping proposal has been endorsed by the African Union and an east African regional group that led peace talks which produced the transitional government nearly two years ago.

“Such forces may have been needed in the long past, while the warlords were brutalizing the Somali people. However, the need has dissipated since they were removed from the scene,” the Muslim leaders told the African, Arab, and European officials on Thursday.


Somalia has been without an effective central government since the warlords turned on each other, carving much of the country into armed camps ruled by violence and clan law. Islamic fundamentalists have stepped into the vacuum, projecting themselves as an alternative military and political power.

Group growing increasingly radical
They set up a militia force to enforce their interpretation of Islam and formed a court system that helped desperate Somalis settle disputes.

But the group has grown increasingly radical.

A recruiting video issued by its members and obtained by The Associated Press this week shows Arab militants fighting alongside the local extremists in Mogadishu. It invites Muslims from around the world to join in their “holy jihad.”

The video, reminiscent of those produced by Islamic extremists in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, provides the first hard evidence that non-Somalis have joined with Islamic extremists in Somalia. The group has repeatedly denied links to extremists such as al-Qaida.

Late Tuesday, radical Islamic militia fighters in central Somalia shot and killed two people at the screening of a banned World Cup soccer broadcast, an independent radio station reported.

The Islamic fighters were dispersing a crowd of teenagers watching the match. They opened fire after the teenagers defied their orders to leave the hall in which a businessman was screening the Germany-Italy match on satellite television, Shabelle Radio reported Wednesday. It said those killed were a girl and the business owner.

The Islamic fighters have forbidden movies and television entertainment in line with their strict interpretation of Islam.