[DEBATE] : Sheikh Aweys to Lead Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

<http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Islamist_hardliner_to_become_new_Somalia_opposition_chief.shtml>
Islamist hardliner to become new Somalia opposition chief
21 Jun 21, 2008 - 6:58:09 PM

ASMARA, Eritrea June 21 (Garowe Online) - An Islamist hardliner has
said that he will rise to become chairman of the opposition Alliance
for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), a Somali opposition group
founded in Eritrea last year.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, designated a terrorist by the U.S.
government, told Arabic newspaper Asharq al Awsat that he will replace
current ARS Chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

He accused Sheikh Sharif of being "too close the U.S. government,"
starting in January 2007 when Sheikh Sharif was apprehended by Kenyan
police and later questioned by American officials at a hotel in
Nairobi.

According to Sheikh Aweys, the current chairman of the ARS "violated"
the opposition alliance's bylaws when he signed a peace pact with the
Somali government on June 9th.

ARS members in the Eritrean capital of Asmara will convene in July to
hold a meeting, where Sheikh Aweys is expected to be nominated to lead
the opposition.

Sheikh Aweys, ARS defense secretary Yusuf Indha Ade and al Shabaab
militants have all refused to recognize the June 9 agreement and vowed
to continue the insurgency until Ethiopian troops leave Somali soil.

Sheikh Sharif and Sheikh Aweys were the leaders of the Islamic Courts
movement, who ruled much of south-central Somalia in 2006 until being
ousted by Ethiopian troops.

Source: Garowe Online

Cf.
<http://www.asharqalawsat.com/details.asp?section=4&issueno=10798&article=475738>
أويس يلمح إلى احتمال ترؤسه تحالف المعارضة الصومالية في أسمرة خلفا لشريف
قال إنه تجاهل كل تحفظات أعضاء التحالف فيما يخص عملية السلام
القاهرة: خالد محمود

<http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Somalia_The_fighting_will_continue_says_opposition_defense_chief.shtml>
'The fighting will continue,' says opposition defense chief
By
Jun 20, 2008 - 7:38:31 PM

MOGADISHU, Somalia June 20 (Garowe Online) - A key opposition figure
in Somalia has rejected the recent peace agreement signed between the
Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia and the opposition
coalition - the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS).

Yusuf "Indha Ade" Mohamed Siad, the ARS defense secretary, told a
Mogadishu-based radio station during a Friday interview that "the
fighting will continue until Somalia is liberated from Ethiopian
troops."

"I know nothing about that peace deal, therefore it does not concern
us," Indha Ade said, while calling on the Somali public to "beware of
international conspiracies."

Indha Ade indicated that the ARS delegation  – led ARS Chairman Sheikh
Sharif Sheikh Ahmed  – which signed the peace pact with the TFG on
June 9 "does not represent the opposition."

He strongly stated that the Somali people "want Islamic rule," while
lambasting the clan-based power sharing system the TFG is founded on.

The former warlord of Lower Shabelle region, Yusuf Indha Ade joined
forces with the Islamic Courts Union in early 2006 in a bloody war to
secure Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords.

He later rose to become defense chief of the ICU militia that once
controlled nearly all of southern and central Somalia, until they were
ousted from power in December 2006 by the Ethiopian invasion.

He is the second ARS figure to reject the peace agreement; Sheikh
Hassan Dahir Aweys, an Eritrea-based ARS member whom the U.S.
government accues of terror links, has publicly rejected the peace
deal and called on loyal fighters to continue the insurgency that has
been raging for the past 17 months.

On Friday, medical sources at three Mogadishu-area hospitals confirmed
a death toll of 20 from yesterday's insurgent attacks on government
and Ethiopian military bases.

Source: Garowe Online