In reality, though, the U.N.-backed leaders’ authority barely extends beyond their makeshift parliament building.
An Islamic militia that has vowed to bring a Quran-based government and justice system to Somalia has begun setting up local administrations across most of the country.
The militia even has elements here in the home of the official government: Baidoa has a recruiting station for the fighters, who control the capital, Mogadishu, and much of the south.
“If you want to join the Islamic Courts militia, you can sign up in that office right over there and they will take you for training in Mogadishu,” said Adam Nunow Ali, a 40-year-old school teacher, pointing toward a storefront on Baidoa’s main street. “They have many agents in Baidoa.”
The militia’s hard-line leader is a longtime bitter rival of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, whose transitional government signed a nonaggression agreement with the Islamic fighters in Khartoum, Sudan last month. Talks between the sides are scheduled to begin in Sudan next Saturday. Many Somalis worry about what will happen if those talks break down.
Because his government has no army, Ahmed has called for foreign peacekeepers to provide him military muscle in a country where every clan has its own militia. He has also called on the Islamic council to disarm and respect the secular transitional constitution.
Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, who leads the council and has battled Yusuf in one way or another for the last 15 years, has called for a holy war if foreign troops enter Somalia. He has insisted on an Islamic government for a country that is nearly 100 percent Muslim.
“We believe it will tear us apart,” Ali, the teacher, said of the difference in goals for Somalia’s future. “Then there will be chaos.”
Source: AP, July 8, 2006
