Somali Islamic militia boss speaks on UPDF

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys is not the kind of man you would expect. The political leader of the Union of Islamic Courts, who is on the US list of ‘most wanted terrorists and individuals supporting terrorism’, does not seem in any way aggressive or imposing. Instead, he is a rather soft spoken and friendly man, smiling a lot through his red, henna-stained beard. It is hard to imagine that this small, elderly man could be the mastermind behind East-Africa’s terror attacks, as some Americans believe.
I meet Sheikh Aweys in a hotel in the centre of Mogadishu. He does not shake my hand – something I have grown used to in Somalia under the Islamists. The interview took place just hours before a bomb blast nearly killed President Abdullahi Yusuf and only a day after an Italian nun was killed, believed to be in retaliation of the Pope’s remarks about the Prophet Mohammed. But Sheikh Aweys reassures me that I am safe.
“We will provide you with all the security you need,” he says. “The killing of the Italian sister was a purely criminal act. We cannot tolerate something like this. We have arrested the culprit and are establishing the motive. It could have been an internal dispute, a politically motivated act to demonstrate that we are not in charge, or a reaction of individuals to what the Pope said. When the verdict is out and it is proven that the killing was intentional, the perpetrators will be executed or ordered to pay blood compensation, depending on the family’s decision.”
Sheikh Aweys vehemently denies his organisation is harbouring or training terrorists. “We don’t have those people. We don’t have those links. We don’t train al-Qaida,” he emphasises. “But I understand their concerns. Because we are devote Muslims, they suspect us to be bad guys. The problem is that they don’t know us. They have no communication with us. Yes, we want to protect our religion. Our religion is our culture. But we also want good relations with the rest of the world and do business with them. We need the international community to help rebuild our country.”
When suggested that people in the West might be abhorred by the Sharia, the Islamic court which orders stoning people for adultery, stabbing people to death for killing and cutting people’s hands for theft, Sheikh Aweys defends this kind of penal system: “The objective is not only to punish but to send a strong message to the masses that we shall not tolerate killing or stealing. It is meant as a deterrent, to restore law and order and to save the society. As the head of prisons in the former army, I have experienced that secular laws do not fully stop criminality. One person can kill up to one hundred people and he cannot be stopped. Each community has its own ways of dealing with crime. In Kenya, they lynch thieves. In Saudi-Arabia, where the Sharia is in place, people can go to the mosque for prayers and leave their shops open.”
Asked if they would agree to power-sharing with the transitional government, holed up in the town of Baidoa, or continue their advance and take Kismayo or Baidoa, Sheikh Aweys smiles. “If we have restored law and order, what is the problem of us extending our rule to other areas? Why does the international community not want that? What is there to share, anyway, with a government which is sitting in a small enclave and has done nothing for the people in its two years existence?”
“On a more serious note,” he continues, “for us it is not about power but about principles. Past rulers used power for their personal interests. Our country is undermined and cut into small fiefdoms by the political elite, by neighbouring countries and by the international community. Our demands are unity, security, no foreign interference and a principle-oriented programme. We don’t even mind the transitional government to be in charge as long as we agree on these principles.”

The Islamists are strongly opposed to the sending of a peacekeeping force, as decided by the African Union and IGAD. Uganda has volunteered to send troops. Sheikh Aweys is clear about this: “Our reaction is no to foreign troops. I really don’t understand the need for them. We have been against the deployment of foreign troops even when the situation was much worse. Now that most of the country is more or less secure, there is no reason for it. If they come, we will have no choice but to fight them. We will consider it an invasion.”
Sheikh Aweys suspects that Ethiopia and the US are pushing for the peacekeeping force. “Because of their fears (of us supporting al-Qaida terrorists). Ethiopia has its own interests: to have access to the sea and solve the problem of the Ogaden (Ethiopia’s eastern province, claimed by Somalia). Ethiopia does not want a strong, united Somalia. The transitional government is a small baby in Ethiopia’s pocket.”
Asked how they managed to push out the heavily armed warlords, the Sheikh concedes that it even took them by surprise. “The warlords were supported by the US to arrest the sheikhs and hand them over to the Americans. We were only defending ourselves. The warlords were so powerful and feared. When we engaged (warlord) Kanyere, we only had seven rusty ‘technicals’ (battle wagons) and captured 35 from him in just one day. Our swift victory was because of the support of the population and Allah’s power.”
“The militias of the warlords did not know what they were fighting for,” he continues. “This was not another clan attacking them. No, they were ordered to capture their own sheikhs. The warlords could not convince them. Many of their militiamen joined us. They are currently undergoing training and will be merged into the Islamic Court militia within 40 days.”
Asked what message he has for Uganda, Sheikh Aweys says: “Ugandans were our good brothers and neighbours. We like them. They have helped us a lot. But now, unnecessary tensions are cropping up because of the talk of them sending troops, pushed by Ethiopia. We don’t want a Somali bullet to hit a Ugandan. Or a Ugandan bullet to hit a Somali. There should be no reason for that.”
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