NAIROBI, Kenya — More than three months after a federation of Islamic clerics came to power in Somalia, the group, as expected, has established strict religious rule in the capital of Mogadishu and the wide swath of the country it controls.
But Somalis, diplomats and regional analysts say the group also has shown a willingness to negotiate. And that, they say, has eased fears that its rule would turn the anarchic country into another training ground and safe haven for Muslim terrorists.
“There was a feeling in the international community that the Taliban was taking over and there would be a big fight over Somalia in the region,” said Mario Raffaeli, Italy’s special envoy to Somalia.
“But three months later there is no war; there is dialogue. So I have to be more optimistic.”
In recent weeks, the Somali Islamists have banned commercial activity during prayer times, closed movie houses and radio stations for “indecent” programming and flogged dozens of people for using marijuana.
But they also have engaged in two rounds of talks with Somalia’s transitional government, a powerless but internationally backed body. Last week the two sides agreed to form a unified national security force and to meet next month to discuss the thornier issue of sharing political power.
Diplomats hopeful
Some diplomats in the region said it was a sign that the Islamists recognized the authority of the shaky government, formed at a regional conference in Kenya two years ago, and weren’t bent on extremism.
On Thursday, the African Union endorsed a plan to send an 8,000-strong regional peacekeeping force into Somalia by the end of the month.
The mission is intended to back the government, which has no military force of its own, but Islamist leaders denounced it as an invasion.
The Islamists’ backers say the peacekeeping mission could jeopardize the negotiations and, if the Islamists resist, plunge Somalia back into mayhem.
Others are less certain that time has clarified the Islamists’ goals. The inner workings of the movement — which grew out of a loose federation of religious courts — remain a mystery to outsiders.
The courts came to power in June after months of street fighting between their militias and those loyal to Mogadishu’s secular warlords, who many think were backed by the CIA in a covert antiterrorism operation.
U.S. officials haven’t confirmed the reports.
Source: MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS, Sept 17, 2006
