Somalia is ‘a haven for al Qaeda’

MOGADISHU – An old cleric, a young warrior and a desecrated Italian cemetery are at the centre of the debate on whether Somalia has become a haven for al Qaeda terrorists.

Ever since an Islamic militia seized control of the capital, Mogadishu, vowing to bring Islamic rule to the Horn of Africa nation, Western nations had expressed concern that Somalia could become a new base for Osama bin Laden’s terror group. In Somalia, interviews with Islamic leaders, moderate business people and other Somalis revealed that people were frightened by recent events and that the Islamic leaders and the clans through which they operated were under close scrutiny.Most courts practice the moderate Sufi form of Islam that has dominated Somali culture for centuries.The courts had always had small militias to enforce their rulings, but their transformation into a united, national political and military power was new.In mid-2004, these courts and militias began uniting as the Islamic Courts Union and on June 6 seized control of Mogadishu and in the weeks since much of the rest of southern Somalia.Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, a cleric believed to be in his 60s, helped establish the Islamic Courts Union and continued to be one of its most influential and fundamentalist leaders, strenuously advocating for an Islamic government to end the chaos in Somalia.On September 23 2001, Aweys figured on a United States list of individuals and organisations accused of having ties to terrorism.The US accused him of links to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.Investigations by the FBI and Kenyan police had shown that terrorist attacks on Kenyan soil in 1998 and 2002 were launched from Somalia, which has the longest coastline in Africa and was only 200km across the Gulf of Aden from the Arabian peninsula.Convicted terrorists had told the FBI that a man on the most wanted terrorist list, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed from Comoros, purchased weapons in Somalia and hid there after the attacks.Crumpton said that in testimony before the US senate’s foreign relations committee on June 13, the American state department co-ordinator for counterterrorism Henry Crumpton testified that Mohammed “has been and may still be in Mogadishu”.Aweys’ Ayr clan included another prominent figure linked to terrorism: the young man in charge of the union’s most formidable militia, Aden Hashi Farah Ayro.- Nampa-APIn Somalia, interviews with Islamic leaders, moderate business people and other Somalis revealed that people were frightened by recent events and that the Islamic leaders and the clans through which they operated were under close scrutiny.Most courts practice the moderate Sufi form of Islam that has dominated Somali culture for centuries.The courts had always had small militias to enforce their rulings, but their transformation into a united, national political and military power was new.In mid-2004, these courts and militias began uniting as the Islamic Courts Union and on June 6 seized control of Mogadishu and in the weeks since much of the rest of southern Somalia.Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, a cleric believed to be in his 60s, helped establish the Islamic Courts Union and continued to be one of its most influential and fundamentalist leaders, strenuously advocating for an Islamic government to end the chaos in Somalia.On September 23 2001, Aweys figured on a United States list of individuals and organisations accused of having ties to terrorism.The US accused him of links to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.Investigations by the FBI and Kenyan police had shown that terrorist attacks on Kenyan soil in 1998 and 2002 were launched from Somalia, which has the longest coastline in Africa and was only 200km across the Gulf of Aden from the Arabian peninsula.Convicted terrorists had told the FBI that a man on the most wanted terrorist list, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed from Comoros, purchased weapons in Somalia and hid there after the attacks.Crumpton said that in testimony before the US senate’s foreign relations committee on June 13, the American state department co-ordinator for counterterrorism Henry Crumpton testified that Mohammed “has been and may still be in Mogadishu”.Aweys’ Ayr clan included another prominent figure linked to terrorism: the young man in charge of the union’s most formidable militia, Aden Hashi Farah Ayro.- Nampa-AP