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Africa Horn
Somali govt allies hunt Islamist clerics, talks off
2006-08-15
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Northern Somali authorities loyal to the interim government on Tuesday hunted down clerics trying to spread the grip of Mogadishu-based Islamists, and peace talks scheduled for Sudan were put on hold.
Excellent! It's cleric season!
The Islamists asked for a two-week delay in Arab League-brokered talks in Khartoum with the government, now past a Monday deadline to form a cabinet after its dissolution for non-performance last week. The Islamists, who rule Mogadishu and a key swathe of southern Somalia through sharia courts backed by disciplined militias, have vowed to spread Islamic law across the Horn of Africa nation of 10 million. That has put them at odds with the shaky interim government, a fractious, secular administration that has struggled to impose authority anywhere in the country except at its temporary base in the south-central trading town of Baidoa.

Police in the self-governed northern Puntland state, once ruled by Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, were tracking Sheikh Ahmed Shanle after he announced the formation of a sharia court in Las Anood district on Sunday. "The sheikh and his group escaped, but the police will catch and bring them to justice," Puntland police officer Abdullahi Jama told reporters.
You could take them on a 2 AM road trip looking for a arms cache. I'm sure I can find a spare shutter gun around here somewhere
Two journalists who reported on the opening of the court were arrested on Monday, but later freed, local reporter Abdullahi Yasin told Reuters.

Puntland, which covers northeastern Somalia and is the tip of the Horn of Africa, has been self-governed for years and is relatively stable by the standards of a country mired in anarchy since the 1991 overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Though its leaders have quarrelled with Yusuf, a Puntland native, they share a common enemy in the Mogadishu Islamists.

On Monday in Puntland's main port, Bossaso, police jailed another cleric and 10 of his followers who were trying to open a sharia court, authorities said.
"Git yur hands up, holy man."
The Islamists accuse the government of being a puppet of Ethiopia, and say the presence of Ethiopian troops in Baidoa and elsewhere on Somali soil is proof of that. They refuse to negotiate with the government until the troops leave. "Under the excuse of the Ethiopian troops, they are not going to the Khartoum talks, but in a sense, this suits their policy of slow, quiet consolidation," said a Western diplomat. The diplomat said the Islamists were "very, very cunning" in biding their time to get stronger, thus giving the government little choice but to accept Ethiopia's backing -- and direction.

The government accuses the Islamists of al Qaeda links and planning to usurp its legal authority through a military campaign cloaked in the guise of spreading Islamic law. An Arab League official blamed the Islamists for further delaying the peace talks, originally set for mid-July. "We are not happy with the new position of the Islamic courts. They are the only side responsible for postponing the negotiations," said Samir Hosni, the League's Somalia pointman.
Posted by:Steve

#10  They might be claiming all of the Horn for their 10 million, not just Somaliland.
Posted by: Jackal   2006-08-15 21:55  

#9  Well actwawwally I'm a wegitawean, I just hunt for sport HAHAHAHA
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2006-08-15 19:43  

#8  Bugs: Mullah season!
Daffy: Imam season!
Bugs: Mullah season!
Daffy: Imam season!
Bugs: Mullah season!
Daffy: Imam season!

[Porky, standing by bemused through all this, shoots both.]
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2006-08-15 18:26  

#7  The Islamists, who rule Mogadishu and a key swathe of southern Somalia through sharia courts backed by disciplined militias, have vowed to spread Islamic law across the Horn of Africa nation of 10 million.

First off, I love the disciplined militia line. What does this mean, that they don't rape and pillage wantonly, show up when told to do so and only do it with the goat on occasion?

And who knew there were 10 million people in Somalia. I thought lots of these folks starved to death. Man, they breed like rabbits.

Zenster, what you said. Unfortunately, that slap down on Islam ain't gonna happen until tens of thousands of our citizens get killed in a single event.
Posted by: remoteman   2006-08-15 18:18  

#6  I somtimes wonder why we even bother with some parts of the world.

Only the advent of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons has made it essential to monitor these various and sundry hell-holes. Terrorists, by there sheer existence, have now made it essential to exterminate them. If this requires the wholesale slaughter of all Muslims on the face of this earth, then so be it.

Each day another 9-11 happens. Not so noticable as the Twin Towers' collapse but just as deadly. Some 3,000 African children die on a daily basis, be it from famine, disease, war or disaster. Imagine the incalculable wealth currently being expended world-wide on thwarting a tiny but pathologically violent faction of one putative religion.

Now imagine how many of the world's most dire problems could be addressed if that vast wealth were not being diverted by the need to combat terrorism. Where is it written that outside cultures are responsible for cleaning up the mess that is Islam?

Somehow, in a feat of masterful prestidigitation, Islam has foisted its housecleaning duties upon the outside world while it is allowed unfettered access to our educational and economic institutions along with a safe haven to continue breeding.

Only when this world reads Islam the riot act and makes clear the intensely painful consequences (namely, nuclear annihilation) for not eliminating the jihadists in their midst will there be even the slightest glimmer of hope for halting terrorism. Until then we remain complete and total fools in their eyes and are obliged to witness yet another 9-11 happen each day. How much longer will this lunacy continue?
Posted by: Zenster   2006-08-15 17:31  

#5  And so it goes, onwards and downwards, without reason, purpose, point or end.

I somtimes wonder why we even bother with some parts of the world.
Posted by: N guard   2006-08-15 17:13  

#4  Somali govt allies hunt Islamist clerics

Never have I seen such an encouraging headline since the 9-11 atrocity itself. Somebody has finally connected the dots. Remember, folks, NO BAG LIMIT.
Posted by: Zenster   2006-08-15 16:30  

#3  Like I said a few weeks back, the Islamists can run wild all over the rump state of Somalia, but when they get to Puntland or Somaliland, they are goners. Both of those places have a functional central government, and a basic army. Plus a couple of hundred thousand Ethiopian "volunteers" standing by, if needed.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2006-08-15 16:28  

#2  What they need are lots of snipers - and an endless supply of bullets.

I'll gladly fork over for a case - anybody know where I can send them?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2006-08-15 15:53  

#1  ooohh I like it
Posted by: Frank G   2006-08-15 15:46  

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