Mogadishu , Somalia, September 16, 2006 (SL Times) – In interviews with the local media earlier this week, Hassan Abdillahi Hersi, better known as Turki, has urged the people of Somaliland to join Mogadishu’s Islamic Courts.

Mr. Turki who belongs to the Al-Takfir Wal Hijra faction of the Islamic Courts, said that Somaliland and other regional administrations should not ignore what he termed as the winds of change blowing from the Islamic Courts.

“The Courts are like a flowing river and anyone who tries to swim against the tide would be drawn” he said.

Hassan Turki left Mogadishu on Monday for the Lower Juba region at the head of a contingent of Islamist militia.

Turki disclosed that his troops have been given an assignment to block the entry of Igad peacekeepers into Somalia from the border with Kenya or through Kismayo port.

Meanwhile the Somaliland Times has learnt that the chairman of Mogadishu’s Islamic Shurra Council, Hassan Dahir Aweys, have been sending funds to pro-courts groups in major urban centers in Somalia and Somaliland.

One such group conducted training on marksmanship near Buroa. The training site was busted by Somaliland police earlier this week. Believed to be 30-40 strong, the group was visited at one time by some one from the Mogadishu courts for verification.

A similar group tried to stage a demonstration in Baidoa after yesterday’s Juma prayers in protest against the deployment of Igad peacekeepers in Somalia. The demonstration was also intended to test the strength of the local group’s following among Baidoa residents.

Only about 100 people, mostly children, turned up.

Meanwhile Baidoa’s representative on the Itihad Al-Mahakem, Mukhtar Raybow (Abu Mansur), threatened that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill any Ethiopian if he sees one when he comes to Baidoa later this month with a delegation from Mogadishu’s courts. A delegation from the Baidoa government is also scheduled to make a similar visit to Mogadishu.

The Afghanistan trained Raybow is the deputy commander of the Islamic courts militia. He is from the Digil and Mirifle clan.

Source: Somaliland Times