I'm like Mandela, says Islamist

2008-07-23 21:20

Djibouti - A Somali hardline cleric accused of ties with al-Qaeda compared himself on Wednesday to Nelson Mandela, saying he was fighting to free his country from foreign occupiers.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, an influential cleric designated as a terrorist by Washington, said: "Americans must use their great wisdom and should not call a freedom fighter a terrorist."

"I am not harmful to the interest of the US and other western countries, but I will not stop fighting for Somalia in order to be accepted by the West," he told AFP by phone from the Eritrean capital Asmara.

"Nelson Mandela was once a terrorist and he was in the US list of people accused of fomenting terrorism, but now he is as patriot and well-respected figure. My case is not different."

On July 1, the US removed Mandela - winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and president of SA from 1994 to 1999 - and his African National Congress from a three-decade-old immigration watch list for possible terrorists.

Aweys, who on Tuesday claimed leadership of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS), an umbrella opposition, has rejected a June-9, UN-mediated truce between his former Islamist allies and the Somali government to end the conflict in his country.

Truce

Aweys says he is fighting for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops who entered Somalia late 2006 and helped oust Islamist rulers from the country.

"There are efforts to bring peace to Somalia, but all those efforts are futile as long Ethiopians are occupying Somalia, destroying our livelihoods by killing women and children."

- AFP