"From my cold, dead hands....." Charlton Heston.
Somalia's Islamic Movement Orders Weapons Ban In Country
Monday, November 27, 2006
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP)--Islamic leaders Monday ordered Somalis to hand in their weapons, but didn't say how they would enforce the directive in a heavily armed country some fear is about to go to war with Ethiopia.
The directive, issued by senior Islamic leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and announced on local radio stations, applies to all individuals and business leaders working in areas controlled by the Islamic group. Many businesses employ heavily armed local militia for security.
It is unclear what punishment will be meted out to those who do not hand in their weapons or why the directive was announced Monday. Fears are mounting the Islamic group and the Ethiopian-backed transitional government may go to war as they vie for control of the country. Only weapons carried by the militia under the control of the Islamic movement are allowed, said the directive.
Somalia is awash with small arms since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, before turning on each other and carving much of the country into armed camps ruled by violence and clan law.
A government was established two years ago with the support of the U.N. to serve as a transitional body to help Somalia emerge from anarchy. But the leadership, which includes some warlords linked to the violence of the past, wields no real power outside the western city of Baidoa.
The Islamic council, meanwhile, has been steadily gaining ground since seizing the capital, Mogadishu, in June. The U.S. has accused the group of sheltering suspects in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which it denies.
With fears Somalia could once again be plunged into war, African diplomats have proposed a regional peacekeeping force, which the Islamic group bitterly oppose, to try to restore order.
On Monday the International Crisis Group, an independent think tank, said in a report the deployment of peacekeepers could plunge the nation into all-out war.
The Belgium-based group said a draft resolution supporting regional peacekeepers would be presented to the U.N. Security Council Wednesday by the U.S. However, the U.S. State Department says while it supports the idea of a peacekeeping force, it wasn't presenting a resolution.
Meanwhile 20 youngsters were arrested and curfew was imposed after they protested the shutting down by Islamic militia of a video hall where they were watching football in central Somalia.
Source: AP, Nov 27, 2006
