POLITICS-SOMALIA: A Little Tough Love for Faction Leaders

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Jun 9 2006 (IPS) - The past week has seen Kenyan officials impose a travel ban on Somali faction leaders and their associates, and the subsequent arrest of one of these leaders – Abdul Rashid Hussein Shiry – in the Kenyan capital.

Shiry belongs to an alliance defeated by Islamic militias during recent fighting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu; he was detained Jun. 7 by police and immigration authorities at a hotel in Nairobi.

A government statement noted that Kenya would no longer allow its territory to be used by persons who “destabilise” efforts to restore peace to Somalia, Kenya’s neighbour to the north.

The faction leaders have a close relationship with Kenya, where they are said to run a variety of businesses. They have been at the centre of the lawlessness that has prevailed in Somalia since the collapse of Muhammad Siad Barre’s government in 1991.

Kenya played host to peace talks which resulted into the formation of a transitional administration for Somalia in late 2004. The talks began in 2002.

However, the interim government enjoys little support in Somalia. Led by President Abdullahi Yusuf, it operates from Baidoa in the south-central part of the country, as persistent insecurity in Mogadishu has prevented legislators from setting up office there.

For the past few months, the capital has been engulfed in fierce fighting between faction leaders (including four cabinet ministers) of the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism, and Islamic militia allied with Islamic courts.

The violence has claimed over 300 lives in recent weeks, while 1,500 have been injured and 17,000 displaced, according to the United Nations.

The takeover of Mogadishu has caused residents of Jowhar, about 90 kilometres to the north-west, to begin fleeing this area – a stronghold of the faction leaders. They feared further conflict between Islamic militias and faction leaders over control of the town.

Clashes began when the alliance opposed the Islamic courts set up in Mogadishu to establish some form of order. The courts had been linked to al Qaeda operatives.

Early this week, Islamic militiamen took over Mogadishu, under the control of faction leaders since the fall of Somalia’s last government 15 years ago.

The tough stance adopted by Nairobi was echoed in views expressed by Bethwel Kiplagat, the chief mediator of the peace negotiations.

“The warlords violated the new charter, which spells out a ceasefire, and went ahead to launch a campaign to attack the Islamic group without the approval or support of the government they were supposed to walk with,” Kiplagat told IPS.

“They have further accepted financial assistance from a foreign power to buy weapons to cause problems in their country. The acceptance of foreign funding to purchase weapons was further done without the approval of their government and therefore seems to have undermined the government.”

The alliance is allegedly funded the United States as part of its war on terrorism.

However, political observers warn that any American intervention in Somalia may complicate efforts to restore security in the beleaguered country.

“It is unfortunate that the Americans are supporting and giving money to the wrong people, who have kept Somalia in this lawless state for the last 15 years,” Ashara Awadh, a Somali member of parliament, told IPS in Nairobi.

A previous U.S. involvement in Somalia ended in disaster when 18 American troops were killed n clashes with Somalia militiamen in Mogadishu – this in 1993, when U.S. forces led a U.N. peacekeeping mission to the country.

The U.S. was also among the leading advocates of a U.N. Security Council resolution which imposed an arms embargo on Somalia in 1992 – to the detriment of faction leaders. However, the U.S. is now accused of throwing its support behind the leaders.

In an effort to pacify Mogadishu, the Somali government has started negotiating with the leadership of the Islamic courts.