After conquering Mogadishu on 5 June, Somali Islamists face internal divisions

Mogadishu, June 27, 2006 – The spokesman of the Somali Union of the Islamic Courts (UIC), Abdirahman Osman, told on Monday Milan daily Corriere della Sera that Italy is playing a key role in Somalia . "The US and Ethiopia wanted to intervene against the Islamists [...], but Mario Raffaelli [the special envoy of the Italian government to Somalia] persuaded them not to," he said. "Thanks to Italy's mediation, we have opened a channel of dialogue with the provisional Somali government of president Abdillahi Yussuf," added Osman, who belongs to the moderate faction of the UIC.

"Yussuf wants an international peacekeeping mission, but we think that such a presence would boost extremists and trust Raffaelli who is currently trying to discourage Abdillahi from that," Osman concluded.

However, despite the positive comments by Osman, the UIC appears to be divided about Italy's role in Somalia. Such divisions reflect the internal feud between radicals and moderates, and further 'tribal' rifts, analysts say.

The newly elected chairman of the council (Shura) set up by the UIC to advise it - radical Islamist Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys - has recently leveled harsh criticism at the "former colonial-powers" of Italy and the UK.

Speaking after his election on 25 June, Dahir Aweys said that Italy and Great Britain "did not allow us to rule according to the Koran." "I hope that now they will support the formation of an Islamic state," he added.

Dahir Aweys is considered to be among the most radical members of UIC, the Islamist group which on 5 June seized control of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, after months of clashes with the militias of the so-called 'warlords'.

US authorities believe him to be linked to Osama Bin Laden's 'representative' in Somalia, Abu Tahal al-Sudani. And many international observers regarded his election as a shift away from the 'moderate' stance initially adopted by the UIC in its administration of Mogadishu.

Underlining how Dahir Aweys' election marked the increase of the feud between radicals and moderates within the UIC, Raffaelli spoke of the Shura's chairman as an "extremist that it is better to include in the government, rather than leaving him out and therefore beyond control."

Somalia gained independence in 1960, following the unification of Italian Somalia and British Somaliland. Italian forces conquered the southern and eastern part of the Horn of Africa country at the end of the 19th century. The Italian colonization was bitterly resented by the local population, and many Somalis remain highly critical of Italy's colonial legacy.

Source: FTR/AKI