New party to fight terrorism
2006-02-21 12:12
Mogadishu - A group of powerful warlords controlling the Somali capital have formed a new political party whose main goal is to oppose extremism associated with hardline Islamic courts in the lawless Horn of Africa nation, said officials with ties to the party on Tuesday.
The Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT), launched on Saturday in southern Mogadishu, aimed to play a key role in fighting terrorism in the country that had lacked a functional government for the last 15 years.
Witnesses said this week's fighting in southern Mogadishu, which left at least 18 people dead and displaced hundreds of others, pitted ARPCT-backed gunmen against Islamic courts militia.
Al-Qaeda network
Critics had accused the Islamic courts, which had set up a form of quasi-judicial system in Mogadishu, of having links to the al-Qaeda network.
The officials said members of the ARPCT, headquartered in the capital's Daynile district, included warlords Mohamed Qanyare Afrah, Musa Sudi Yalahow, Omar Mohamoud Finish and Botan Issa and Bashir Raghe Shirar.
Western intelligence group had long warned that the world's failure to support efforts to stabilise lawless Somalia risked turning the country into a breeding ground for Islamic extremism.
Somalia 'used as a base'
Last year, the International Crisis Group (ICG) policy group repeated the warning, but said that although some militant Islamic groups, including those with alleged ties to al-Qaeda, were using Somalia as a base, there was little sign they had more than cursory backing from locals.
The group said that the rise in Islamic extremism had been held in check by Somalis' general dislike and distrust of radical Muslim clerics and their courts, and the restrictions imposed by fundamentalist militias.
The formation of the party came as rival factions in the splintered Somalia transitional government prepared to hold their first parliamentary session in the regional town of Baidoa, about 250km west of Mogadishu, on February 26.
The factions were headed by arch-foes President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, who had disagreed on where to locate the seat of the government since relocating from Kenya in June last year.