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Islamists Reject PeacekeepersSomalia's Islamic Courts Union Oppose Foreign InterventionTensions mount in the Horn of Africa as several countries try to resolve Somalia's political conflict. But Mogadishu's new leaders want no foreign intervention.
On August 17, a team of top African military officials from several nations met in Kenya and announced that African peacekeepers could be deployed to Somalia within weeks or months. This request comes from Abdullahi Yusuf, president of Somalia's U.N.-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG), stationed in Baidoa. Somalia's Islamic Courts Union (ICU), who now control Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia, are strongly opposed to any foreign intervention, especially from bordering countries. On August 18, senior members of the ICU, including leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, urged Muslim supporters to reject all foreign presence and also declared that any peacekeeping missions in Somalia would end in failure. Aweys also referred to Kenya as "an enemy of Islam," and added that Kenya "has now joined Somalia's enemies." The TFG has asked for assistance from peacekeepers in the past. The ICU claims that President Yusuf's administration is merely a puppet controlled by Ethiopia. Relations between the interim government and the ICU do not appear to be improving. There is a deep history of troubles between Ethiopia and Somalia including the 1977-78 Ogaden war where Ethiopia crushed Somali troops. Several times from 1992 to 1998, Ethiopian troops attacked members of al-Itihaad al-Islaami, a militant Somali group whose military wing was headed by Aweys during this period. Many reports suggest that up to 5,000 Ethiopian soldiers are already stationed in Somalia, and although Addis Ababa firmly denies these claims, they have still made it clear that they will defend any attack directed toward the interim government. The U.N. Security Council's most recent report, issued in May, lists both Eritrea and Ethiopia as being responsible for violating the terms of an arms ban that was imposed upon Somalia in 1992. While Eritrea denies these claims, Ethiopia has not responded to these assertions. Many feel that Ethiopia and Eritrea have used Somalia's unstable environment to engage in a proxy war. In Sudan recently, the Arab League broker talks between the ICU and the TFG and ICU but the Islamists have asked that there be a delay in the process. The political crisis in threatens to make the situation in the Horn of Africa even worse as tension mounts, not only on Somali soil, but between Somalia and its neighbours.
The copyright of the article Islamists Reject Peacekeepers in North African Affairs is owned by Sean Sinclair-Day. Permission to republish Islamists Reject Peacekeepers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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