'Bush is a Nazi in Somalia'

2006-06-02 20:17

Mogadishu - Thousands of angry Somali Muslims denounced the United States, and a US-backed warlord alliance fighting Islamic militia, in the capital on Friday.

They vowed to destroy their opponents.

Chanting anti-US slogans and comparing US President George W Bush to a "Nazi," 5 000 Muslims gathered in southern Mogadishu after Friday prayers and pledged to fight against the alliance to the death.

Surrounded by heavily armed Islamist militiamen, the throng cheered as clerics accused Washington of financing a "genocide" by bankrolling the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) in Somalia.

Head of the coalition of Mogadishu's 11 Islamic courts, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Hamad, said: "The US is wrongfully supporting the warlords by funding them in this war.

"The US actions are contrary to international law and against the will of the Somali people."

A senior cleric in the coalition of Sharia courts, Sheikh Mohamoud Sheik Ibrahim, said: "We will fight and die for Somalia and Islam."

'We will die for Allah'

The US and the alliance have accused the courts of harbouring terrorists

Ibrahim said: "We will die for the sake of Allah and we will emerge victorious in our war against the US proxies here.

"We will never be ruled by US-paid mercenaries."

Ibrahim said Bush was a modern-day "Nazi" and "pharaoh.,".

The protesters included men, women and children, clad in traditional Islamic dress, who waved placards which read "Down with United States" and "No infidels in Mogadishu."

Ibrahim said: "The Nazis attempted to rule the world, they failed.

"The Egyptian pharaohs took the same course and they failed. This is the same path George W Bush is taking and we can see his disgraceful end."

The rally took place as new fighting erupted between the alliance and Islamic gunmen north of Mogadishu on Friday, killing 11 people and bringing the death toll from three months of battles to 327.

US denies responsibility for clashes

More than 1 500 have been wounded.

The ARPCT was set up with US support in February, in an attempt to curb the growing influence of Mogadishu's Islamic courts.

The courts have declared a holy war against the alliance. They deny the accusations and claim the warlords are fighting for the "enemy of Islam".

Somalia has been without a functioning central authority since 1991 and its largely powerless transitional government has blamed the alliance and the US for the fighting.

The United States denies responsibility for the clashes, although it has refused to confirm or deny its support for the ARPCT.

US officials and Somali sources have told AFP that Washington has given money to the ARPCT, one of several groups it is working with to curb what it says is a growing threat from radical Islamists in Somalia.

- AFP