For the first time in more than a decade, Hassan Ahmad’s relatives are walking the streets of Mogadishu without fear of being shot.
They’re savoring it, because nobody knows how long that security will last.
Ahmad, who lives in Portland among a growing community of Somali refugees, talked to relatives by phone last weekend.
They spoke of a mix of relief and uncertainty in the Somalian capital city, which was taken over earlier this month by a group called the Islamic Courts Union. The union ousted tribal warlords who had controlled the city since the early 1990s.
“They’re kind of confused,” Ahmad said of his family, as his friend Mohamed Abdalla interpreted. “They don’t know who to follow, which way to go.”
Ahmad and his friends in Portland are following the conflict closely. The battle between the union and the warlords represents the biggest political upheaval in Somalia since the 1991 exile of President Siad Barre.
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People here are eager to see how the changes will affect loved ones in Somalia. Some still have dreams of visiting the country in the future.
“No matter what is happening back home, you always want good to happen,” said Abdalla, who left Somalia in 1990. “Since you’re on the outside, the only thing you can do is hope for better.”
Abdalla and Ahmad run the Al-Amin Halaal Market on St. John Street, a hub for the community. Men gather in a back room there to listen to international radio and watch World Cup soccer. They follow any updates they can find in newspapers or on television.
Abdalla hears a variety of opinions from his customers. Some believe the Islamists can bring peace and stability to Somalia. Others, like Hussein Adem, think disaster looms.
“There is no difference between the warlords and the courts,” said Adem, an elder, shaking his fist vigorously. “We need a democratic government.”
The country of about 10 million people has been without a central government for 15 years.
Heavily armed warlords filled the power void, and hundreds of thousands fled the civil war that followed. Many resettled in Atlanta, Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio. Officials estimate a population of 5,000 Somalis in Maine, roughly split between Portland and Lewiston.
In the streets of Mogadishu, Ahmad said, his family members lived under the threat of rape, kidnapping and murder. They were forced to pay off warlords in each section of the city, where checkpoints were guarded by teenagers with Kalashnikov assault rifles.
“Those are gone now,” Ahmad said. “You can move around freely.”
The U.S. government is believed to have backed the warlords in the fight against the union. There is concern that the Islamists’ rise to power will provide a safe haven for terrorists, including al-Qaida fighters.
Leaders from the union say they do not harbor terrorists and intend only to restore law and order.
It’s that promise of stability that has attracted support among Mogadishu residents, especially the women. People will follow any group that can make them feel safe, Abdalla said.
He hopes the Islamists will negotiate with the transitional government in Baidoa, about 150 miles northwest of Mogadishu. That government is backed by the United Nations but has failed to get recognition in the region.
“The people, they want peace,” he said. “The courts are going to be judged by what they do.”
Awralla Hashi-Aldus, a community health outreach worker for the city of Portland, is not optimistic. Her family left Somalia when she was a young girl. Her grandfather founded Somalia’s first free press, and her journalist uncle fled the country because he was targeted for his political beliefs.
“I am not supportive of any of them,” Hashi-Aldus said of the warlords and Islamists. “Most of these people who are controlling by force and weapons, they don’t have the political background or the education.”
– The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell can be contacted at 791-6451 or at:
Source: Portland Press Herald, June 25, 2006
