CAIRO — An Islamic militia loyal to Al Qaida has driven pro-U.S.
forces out of the capital of Somalia.
The Islamic Courts Union has reported the capture of Mogadishu from a
secular alliance supported by the United States, Middle East Newsline reported. The union said the last
fighters from the secular alliance fled Mogadishu on Monday.
"We want to restore peace and stability to Mogadishu," Sharif Sheik
Ahmed, chairman of the Islamic militia, said in a radio broadcast. "We are
ready to meet and talk to anybody and any group for the interest of the
people."
The secular alliance has not confirmed the claim by the Islamic militia.
But diplomatic sources in Mogadishu confirmed that Al Qaida-aligned forces
appeared to have taken control of the Somali capital. They said many of the
secular fighters have fled to neighboring Kenya.
The takeover highlighted the 15-year civil war in Somalia and reversed a
U.S. effort to bolster secular forces in Mogadishu. More than 300 people
were killed in street battles since February 2006.
"The Joint Islamic Courts are not interested in a continuation of
hostilities and will fully implement peace and security after the change has
been made by the victory of the people with the support of Allah," Ahmed
said.
The Islamic militia, believed financed by Gulf Arab contributors, was
said to have been harboring Al Qaida trainers and senior operatives. U.S.
officials said these operatives included those who attacked an Israeli-owned
hotel in Kenya in 2002 as well as three Al Qaida commanders indicted in the
bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
"We don't want to see Somalia turn into a safe haven for foreign
terrorists," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "We're
very concerned about that."
Somalia has not had a central government since 1992. An interim
government recognized by the United Nations has been based in Baidoa, about
250 kilometers from Mogadishu. Diplomats said the government expects to be
the next target of the Islamic militia.
"We want there to be a greater effort to have a government in place in
Mogadishu," Congo Republic President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who also heads
the African Union, said after meeting President George Bush in Washington on
Monday. "Together, hand-in-hand we are working to get a new government in
Mogadishu, because otherwise Somalia will be a failed state and a very
fragile one."
