US laments 'stunning failure' in Somalia

Residents of Mogadishu attended Friday prayers after a week of relative calm under the control of an Islamic militia, but many wondered if the peace can last in the hands of radicals accused of links to al-Qaida.

Somalis in the capital welcomed the lull in violence, less than a week after the group of militia fighters known as the Islamic Courts Union battled their way to control of the city.

But a deadly fire-fight broke out elsewhere Friday, in the city of Baidoa, where the country’s seemingly powerless UN-backed government is based, 250km from Mogadishu.

“We don’t know what will happen in the future, but we are supporting the Islamic Courts because these unarmed civilians have to support who is more powerful,” Osman Ali Kulmiye said after attending prayers in Mogadishu.

The growing power of the Islamic Courts Union, which is accused of sheltering al-Qaida leaders, has forced the US and other world powers to take notice amid concerns that radical Islam could be taking hold in the Horn of Africa.

The US was secretly supporting a secular alliance of warlords that was fighting the Islamic militia in an attempt to root out terrorists. But now that the Islamic militia has captured nearly all of southern Somalia, the Bush administration has taken a conciliatory tone, saying the militia’s goal was to restore “some semblance of order”.

John Prendergast, a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group, said US goals in Somalia are in disarray.

“At this point it’s ground zero for US policy in Somalia,” he said. “We just have absolutely no policy and no access to any of the authorities on the ground. It’s almost a stunning failure across the board of everything the US was trying to do.”

Somalia has been without a real government since largely clan-based warlords overthrew long-time dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, dividing this nation of 8 million into a patchwork of rival fiefdoms.

“I think that if the Islamic Courts become dictators and do not show flexibility with the transitional government, this will be another curse for the Somali people,” said Abdi Karim Fodare, a foreign exchange dealer in Mogadishu.

Two years ago, the United Nations helped set up an interim government during talks in neighbouring Kenya. But the government, based in Baidoa and wracked by infighting, has not been able to enter the capital because of the violence there and has failed to assert control.

Yesterday, a two-hour firefight killed 10 people in Baidoa when a clan militia, angered by attempts to disarm members and dismantle the checkpoints they use to extort road tolls, attacked the presidential compound. One member of the government was wounded; the other victims were believed to be members of the clan. The militia never entered the compound.

Islamic clerics in Mogadishu avoided talking politics during Friday’s prayers, instead focusing on broad religious teachings. The group is divided between moderates and extremists from different clans, so a consensus about the future of governing Somalia is not imminent.

The union started negotiations on Thursday with the interim government, which has ruled out establishing an Islamic state.

But Sheik Salad Ilmi, a member of the Islamic militia, said his leaders have made it clear to him that the Islamic Courts Union wants strict sharia law.

“We have had an ideology to rule the country with Islamic law and that was the aim we dedicated ourselves to when we fought the warlords,” he said. “If this changes and we are coerced into a secular constitution, maybe it means we were misguided by our clerics.”