From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Wed Jul 23 2008 - 09:25:03 EDT
Somalia: 'We want Ethiopia to withdraw as criminals' - Aweys
23 Jul 23, 2008 - 11:36:02 AM
ASMARA, Eritrea July 23 (Garowe Online) - An exiled Somali Islamist
leader has declared himself the new chairman of an opposition coalition,
which is led by another Islamist who inked a peace pact with the
country's Ethiopian-backed interim government on June 9th.
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who lives in Eritrea, told the BBC Somali
Service on Tuesday that he is now chairman of the Alliance for the
Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), a coalition formed in September 2007 in
Asmara that is composed of Islamists, ex-lawmakers and Diaspora
activists.
"These men left.and the place [ARS] cannot be without leadership,"
Sheikh Aweys said, while referring to ARS Chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh
Ahmed and Central Committee head Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden.
Sheikh Aweys, whom the U.S. government accuses of having terror links,
rejected the Djibouti Accord between the Somali government and the ARS
as "dividing the people."
When asked if he was anti-peace, the Islamist leader responded by
questioning how genuine the governments of Ethiopia and Somalia are
about the prospects of peace in the country.
"There is no pure, dependable peace included in it [Djibouti Accord],"
Sheikh Aweys said, adding: "The biggest problem is that Ethiopia is
supposed to be expelled from the country [Somalia] and the expulsion of
Ethiopia is not very clear in the paper [Djibouti Accord]."
The sheikh suggested that there is no question about the withdrawal of
Ethiopian forces from Somalia, saying: "Ethiopia will leave, God
willing."
But he said the difference was in the way the Ethiopian army left Somali
soil: "The United Nations and the [Somali] Transitional Government want
Ethiopia to leave saviors and helpers, but we want Ethiopia to withdraw
as criminals who attacked a Muslim country."
In 2006, Sheikh Aweys and Sheikh Sharif were the twin heads of the
Islamic Courts movement that seized the capital Mogadishu from warlords
and threatened the Transitional Government and its Ethiopian allies with
war.
Analysts describe Sheikh Aweys as a hardliner, while Sheikh Sharif has
been embraced by many for his moderate qualities.
But one Islamist insider, who spoke with Garowe Online on the condition
of anonymity, said that commanders of the Somali insurgency "are more in
line" with Sheikh Aweys' position on the Djibouti peace deal.
Source: Garowe Online
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