US v Islam
2006-04-05 15:00
Nairobi - Somalia's worst fighting in
years suggests the failed Horn of Africa state may become a new
proxy battleground for Islamist militants and the United States.
Washington sees Somalia as a terrorist haven and backs the
warlords in Mogadishu, which may have galvanised the Islamists
against them both, analysts say.
A battle in March pitted warlords calling themselves the
Anti-Terrorism Coalition against Islamic fighters backed by the
influential Islamic courts. As many as 90 people were killed in
the fighting.
A widely held perception that the United States backs the
warlords with weapons, money and surveillance prompted Islamist
hardliners to start a fight that killed 37 people in February,
hours after the coalition announced its presence.
What has many worried is that these two battles were seen as
a fight between the United States and Islam.
The US backing for the warlords has, in fact, strengthened
the position of the Islamists and "helped extreme elements to
get the Somali public behind them," an official involved with
Somalia told Reuters.
While the Islamic courts are not viewed as extremists, they
and their supporters are seen as sympathetic to al-Qaeda
and foreign fighters who operate in Somalia, the official said.
Others say the Islamic courts, whose leaders have blamed the
United States for supporting warlords, want to fight any attempt
to create a government that would undermine their authority.
Fear we all have
Complicating things is what many say are some dissenting
voices in the US government over what the priority in Somalia
should be: Washington's counter-terrorism agenda or diplomatic
efforts to help its riven interim government succeed.
Jendayi Frazer, the top US diplomat for Africa, would not
directly answer allegations of US backing for warlords. But
she did say counter-terrorism in East Africa is a big concern.
"We look for allies, we look for governments that are part
of that coalition that are also taking an aggressive stance
against al-Qaeda and terrorist elements," Frazer told reporters
in Kinshasa this week when asked about Somalia.
If counter-terrorism wins out, diplomats in Somalia's peace
process say that could turn it into another Iraq-like area where
militants come to fight what they see as a Western war on Islam.
"That is the fear we all have," one Western diplomat said.
Nearly everyone interviewed for this story did not want to
talk on the record for fear of inflaming the situation.
Somalia is on its 14th bid in almost 15 years to establish a
government. The interim administration of President Abdullahi
Yusuf is just starting to heal a rift that has all but paralysed
it since its formation in Kenya in late 2004.
Yusuf, an Ethiopian-backed former warlord, is a US ally
against terrorism along with Addis Ababa.
But his outsider status in Mogadishu has forced Western
intelligence agencies to turn to warlords in his cabinet who
have been his chief political rivals.
That has created an impression that the United States is
undermining him, and diplomats say Washington may be reassessing
how it handles the warlords.
Supporting murderers
Mogadishu's residents largely despise the warlords, who have
oppressed them at gunpoint for 15 years.
"It is the Americans who caused all these problems by
supporting these murderers," Falestin Adan, a 70-year-old mother
of five, told Reuters in Mogadishu.
Such a view is common in the city of one million, where the
Islamic courts have created a semblance of order since an
earlier alliance of warlords in 1991 ousted military dictator
Mohamed Siad Barre.
The courts, funded by wealthy businessmen, provide some
basic health and education services, plus relative security and
justice through Islamic sharia courts in parts of the city.
Somalis themselves do not hew toward hardline views of
Islam, but are distrustful of foreigners.
Nonetheless, the anarchy has given a foothold to a handful
of al-Qaeda-linked militants, the International Crisis Group
think-tank said last year.
Diplomats and security experts now say those numbers are
rising and more training houses have been found.
(Additional reporting by Guled Mohamed in Mogadishu and
David Lewis in Kinshasa)