ICC Note
As jihadists train around the world, Somalia s chaotic environment and government provide an ideal opportunity for radical Muslims to indoctrinate their ideology into the people. Christians in this violent nation are at particular risk for their faith.
Somali Violence Spotlights Fundamentalists
By RODRIQUE NGOWI
Las Vegas Sun (02/23/06)
To read the full story, click here: Somali Violence Spotlight Fundamentalists
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – A recent upsurge in violence in Somalia’s capital has focused attention anew on the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the chaotic Horn of Africa state. The violence had killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 140 since Saturday.
Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, said by the United States to be linked to al-Qaida, is prominent among the fundamentalists increasingly projecting themselves as an alternative to the numerous armed groups running the clan-based fiefdoms that comprise Somalia.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991, when warlords overthrew the government and then began fighting each other.
Wednesday, Aweys pledged to keep fighting a new alliance arrayed against him in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. Mogadishu was calm Thursday as elders sought to mediate.
Aweys described his rivals as “forces of evil” supported by Western powers.
His rivals, meanwhile, describe the fundamentalists as terrorists, accusing them of killing moderate intellectuals, Muslim scholars and former military officials in a string of unexplained murders. Islamic militias have set up their own courts in some parts of Mogadishu, where they shut down bars and destroy shops that reproduce or sell pirated DVDs and music cassettes.
Counterterrorism experts in the U.S. and elsewhere have long worried that al-Qaida could find a haven in Somalia, taking advantage of its instability and perhaps finding hosts among men like Aweys.
To read the full story, click here: Somali Violence Spotlight Fundamentalists
