Islamists in a town in southern Somalia have imposed Sharia law in line with their vow to bring back Islamic theocracy to areas where they were ousted two years ago, a spokesman said Friday. The Mujahideen of Southern Somalia, a group allied to the al-Shabab movement, on Thursday named a 23-member board to enforce the law in Celwaq, about 650 kilometers southwest of Mogadishu. "This administration will govern the town using laws of the Holy Koran," spokesman Mohammad Osmail Indhobur said."Youse can't do that! We got aleady got laws. Kinda."
"Bailiff! Chop off his hand!"
"Aaaaiiieeee!"
Celwaq, near the border with Kenya, is home to tens of thousands of people. It has escaped much of the civil war, but local militia allied to Islamists have moved in to plug a power vacuum in recent weeks.
Islamist fighters - accused of ties to Al-Qaeda by the US, a charge disputed by independent experts - gained control of the southern port of Kismayo five weeks ago after battles that claimed dozens of lives.
A de facto Islamist government, of which the Shabab then formed a part, was ousted from central and southern Somalia early in 2007 after Ethiopian troops invaded to back the interim Somali government, ending an administration that had brought the first rule of law in years - in the form of Sharia law - to large swathes of the country for six months. They have since turned to guerrilla attacks on Ethiopian and Somali forces, and have had rising success.
When in power in 2006, the Islamists carried out executions, shuttered cinemas and photo shops, banned live band music, flogged drug offenders and harassed civilians for failing to wear appropriate dress in public. Additionally, the Islamists severely curbed violence from inter-clan fighting in areas under their control, made inroads into ending corruption as well as virtually stamping out now-endemic piracy.
Alarmed by the strict and fundamentalist version of Sharia law, the US led Western concern over a "creeping Talibanization" in Somalia by the Islamists. The US also provided air and artillery support for the Ethipian-led invasion that forced the Islamists from power in early 2007. US allies such as Pakistan, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia impose varying versions of Sharia law, including public executions, the mandatory wearing of head coverings for women in public, the banning of cinemas, segregation of the sexes and limitations of the rights of women.