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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
SOMALIA: From clan fighting to ideological battleground
NAIROBI, 11 May 2006 (IRIN) - Though the latest fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu started on 7 May, the violence goes back to as far as 18 February, when Mogadishu-based faction leaders and their business associates formed an alliance to fight Islamic courts.
Many people in Mogadishu that IRIN spoke with said they believe the new conflict is different from the past. Previous violence has based on rivalries between Somalia's various clans, Abdullahi Shirwa, a member of Civil Society in Action, an umbrella organisation made up of over 12 groups in Mogadishu, told IRIN. "This time it is not between clans but between two groups with different ideologies."
The two heavily armed militias are the Union of Islamic courts and the Alliance for Peace and the Fight Against International Terrorism, which calls itself "the alliance". Members of the alliance include warlords and government ministers.
Shirwa said the perception among Somalis is that "foreign powers are supporting the faction leaders to reduce the perceived power and influence of the Islamic courts." This, he said, is backfiring, "and if anything the courts are more popular today than in February."
The courts have earned some popular praise for bringing a semblance of order in areas under their control, something the faction leaders have been unable or unwilling to do.
According to Mogadishu residents, the past three months of violence in the Somali capital has been the worst they have seen for over 10 years. More than 201 people have died and 1070 wounded according to hospital sources. The majority of these victims are civilian, with militiamen accounting for less than half of the total deaths and a third of the injured.
"Some of the injuries we are seeing are even worse than what we saw in 1992," said a doctor working in a Mogadishu hospital who also worked there at height of Somalia's civil war. "We are seeing children of six months and less with parts of their bodies missing." He said he so far knew of 35 children and 44 women who have been killed in the current fighting.
Speaking to IRIN from the Medina Hospital, Muhubo Salad said she was keeping vigil over her five-year-old daughter who was injured in the crossfire. She said that it was too dangerous to leave the hospital.
"We need help but instead [the faction leaders] have been feeding us bullets for the last 16 years," she said of Mogadishu's faction leaders. "It is our children they are killing. Their children are in safe countries."
The Islamic courts, say some residents, have recently gained support. "At least the courts don’t loot or steal from us and they have been able to arrest some criminals," Muhubo said.
Many observers say they believe that faction leaders feel threatened by the emerging power of the courts, and some also maintain that outside forces are influencing the faction leaders.
Elders and civil-society groups trying to intervene in the conflict have so far been unsuccessful. Mediation efforts have been complicated by the fact that clan elders are not sure "how to deal with this new type of war", said Shaykhdon Ilmi a doctor at Medina Hospital.
"The clan elders do not have road map to resolve it," he said. "It was a lot easier when it was between clans."
Many people think that for now the areas in the city under the control of warlords is shrinking. "If I were to put a percentage on the area under the influence and control of the courts I would say 60 percent. The rest is controlled by faction leaders and business people," said one observer.
The alliance also includes relatively well-known faction leaders, such as Muhammad Qanyare Afrah, Muse Sudi Yalahow, Omar Finnish, Bashir Raghe and Abdirashid Shire Ilqeyte.
The United States administration says it is concerned that Mogadishu's Islamic Courts could help harbour Islamic militants. Rightly or wrongly, many people in Mogadishu believe that the warlords are receiving support from the outside.
Speaking in Washington last week, a US state department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said, "Our other operating principle is to work with responsible individuals, and certainly members of the transitional [Somali] government, in fighting terror. It's a real concern of ours, terror taking root in the Horn of Africa. We don't want to see another safe haven for terrorists created."
[ENDS]
This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006
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