the next genocide in somalia? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

dksuddeth · 12-01-2006, 05:26 AM

http://allafrica.com/stories/200611271681.html

Quote:

Somalia: Businesspeople Ordered to Surrender Their Arms to Islamic Courts

The Union of Islamic Courts senior leaders have today ordered the armed businesspeople and ordinary people to hand their weapons over to Islamic Courts, issuing decree concerning the ban on weapons in the capital Mogadishu.

The decree signed by Islamic Courts executive council leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed has warned local businesspeople and other individuals probably armed to surrender their weapons to the Courts administration.

Most of Somalia's firms' owners and businesspeople possess largest numbers of trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns and uncountable small arms for the protection of their businesses.

The Islamic Courts have appointed three senior Islamists for the collection of the weapons. Sheik Muktar Robow Abu mansoor, Col. Mohammed Hashi Daqare and Mohammed Abdulle Gesey were the appointed.

Earlier Islamists in central provinces of the country have threatened they would punish non-Islamists caught with carrying a weapon. The law banning weapons has been introduced into the capital on Monday.

Somalia's Islamic Courts seized most central and southern Somalia, including the capital early June this year after fatal battles in which nearly one thousand people lost their lives, most of them civilians, with warlords.

And soon it will be in the millions.

stevo · 12-01-2006, 06:20 AM

maybe the religion of peace doesn't want there to be any violence...

ratbastid · 12-01-2006, 07:17 AM

With a few BIG "ifs", this could be the best thing that could happen to Mogdaishu.

"If" it's carried out universally, with no partisan bias.
"If" it's done thoroughly--they prevent secret stashing and black market sale of weapons.
"If" it can last.

Like I say... big "ifs".

dc_dux · 12-01-2006, 08:22 AM

A big "if" indeed, since it is the US policy of providing funds and arms to the opposing Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism in Somalia that has led to the action by the Islamic Courts.

And many of the warlords in the so-called "Allliance" are the same warlords who fought against the US in the early 90s.

stevo · 12-07-2006, 08:05 AM

Or if they just want to kill and not have anyone able to defend themselves

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061206/...malia_prayer_2

Quote:

Somalia official issues beheading threat

By MOHAMED SHEIKH NOR, Associated Press Writer Wed Dec 6, 11:14 AM ET

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an Islamic courts official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days.

Public places such as shops and tea houses in Bulo Burto, about 124 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, should be closed during prayer time and no one should be on the streets, said Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town's Islamic court.

Those who do not follow this edict "will definitely be beheaded according to Islamic law," Rage told The Associated Press by phone. "As Muslims, we should practice Islam fully, not in part, and that is what our religion enjoins us to do."

He said that the courts are announcing the edict over loudspeakers in the town.

The decision is not binding on courts in other towns.

Somalia's Islamic courts have made varying interpretations of Quranic law, some applying a more strict and radical version of Islamic law than others.

As a result of such disparate variations, residents in the capital of Mogadishu complained, forcing the Council of Islamic Courts officials in October to set up an appeals court with better-educated judges.

The Council of Islamic Courts have swept through most of southern Somalia since taking over Mogadishu in June.

Their sometimes strict and often severe interpretation of Islam has raised the specter of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, and contrasts with the moderate Islam that has dominated Somali culture for centuries.

Some of the courts have introduced public executions, floggings of convicts, bans on women swimming at Mogadishu's public beaches, and the sale and chewing of khat, a leafy stimulant consumed across the Horn of Africa and in the Middle East.

___

Associated Press Writer Salad Duhul in Mogadishu, Somalia contributed to this report.

Yay for tolerance and peace.

mixedmedia · 12-07-2006, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevo

maybe the religion of peace doesn't want there to be any violence...

This is hardly the first time this sort of thing has happened on the African continent and up to recently, has not been the exclusive domain of Muslims.

I'm glad America is finally paying attention to this shit, really I am, but a little chagrined at the same time that it is only when they see a common enemy involved (radical Islam) that they exhibit any remarkable amount of alarm over it.

dksuddeth · 12-07-2006, 08:43 AM

Maybe if the same thing happens in Fiji, then somebody else will pay attention?

Military starts disarming local police units in preparation for coup

Quote:

Soldiers moved against at least two police compounds in Fiji on Monday, seizing weapons in the apparent first step toward taking over the South Pacific island nation.

The military chief who has threatened to overthrow the government, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, said he ordered the move to ensure there would be no violence between the two forces. But Bainimarama refused to say if he had seized control of the country.

Acting Police Commissioner Moses Driver denounced the actions as "unlawful, unwarranted and unnecessary" but said there was no violence. He told reporters he had no knowledge of the military moving to replace the government.

"Until now I have not concluded a coup d'etat is in place," Driver said. "This is only the disarming of the police."

Earlier Monday, Qarase said he was in his office in the capital Suva and the government was still in charge. He said he was willing to hold more talks with Bainimarama and warned a coup would amount to treason.

Troops showed up at the compound of Fiji's only armed police squad, the tactical unit outside Suva. There they removed weapons and ammunition from the compound, loaded them onto trucks and hauled them away, Driver said.

Soldiers also went into an armory at the police academy and removed firearms privately owned by police and weapons used in official ceremonies.

Bainimarama has threatened to topple Qarase at any time, saying the government has failed to meet his demands.

Bainimarama wants the government to kill legislation that would grant pardons to conspirators in a 2000 coup that restored civilian rule and quash two other land rights bills that he says unfairly favor majority indigenous Fijians over the ethnic Indian minority.

Washington has expressed deep concern at Bainimarama's threats and warned U.S. aid to the country could be cut if a coup occurs.

Fiji, a nation of about 900,000 people, was rocked by two military coups in 1987 and the civilian-led coup in 2000.

Now, I haven't been able to find out what the current gun rights are for civilians in Fiji, but after a civilian led coup, I'd be pretty sure they aren't great.

stevo · 12-13-2006, 08:00 AM

suprise suprise. who didn't see this coming?

http://www.localnewsleader.com/brock...lnews&id=34184

Quote:

Islamic militants surround Somalia town
Staff and agencies
12 December, 2006

By ANTHONY MITCHELL, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago

BAIDOA, Somalia - Thousands of Islamic militants have surrounded the only town Somalia‘s internationally recognized government controls, the prime minister said Tuesday as a top Islamic official promised to attack within a week unless Ethiopian troops leave.

"I believe that war is inevitable because elements within the so-called Islamic Courts are against peace and stability in the country," Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told The Associated Press in his office in Baidoa.

Ethiopia acknowledges sending military advisers to help Gedi‘s internationally recognized government but denies sending a fighting force. A confidential U.N. report obtained by the AP in October said up to 8,000 Ethiopian troops were in Somalia or along the border backing the government.

Tensions have been mounting in recent days between the increasingly powerful militia under the umbrella of a group known as the Council of Islamic Courts and Somalia‘s government, which has struggled to assert control.

Attempts to reach Islamic officials for comment were not immediately successful.

Since June, the Council of Islamic Courts has seized Mogadishu and taken control of much of southern Somalia. The group‘s strict interpretation of Islam has drawn comparisons to the Taliban, although many Somalis credit the council with bringing a semblance of order to a country that has seen little more than anarchy for more than a decade.

Somali Information Minister Ali Ahmed Jama Jengali said Tuesday the government had established defense lines and was prepared for an attack on Baidoa.

The rains were supposed to end by November, but are expected to continue through January in a region where drought left the soil so dry it was unable to absorb the deluge.

Associated Press Writer Mohamed Olad Hassan contributed to this report from Mogadishu.

AVoiceOfReason · 12-19-2006, 07:54 PM

It has the makings of Afghanistan as the Taliban took over, and I figure someday, they'll have to be dealt with like the brood of vipers they are.

I just hope it's before a major terrorist plot is hatched from that soil.

dksuddeth · 12-20-2006, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevo

suprise suprise. who didn't see this coming?

http://www.localnewsleader.com/brock...lnews&id=34184

They would NEVER do that to an unarmed and peaceful populace...isn't that why they have police and government? to protect them?

dksuddeth · 01-07-2007, 05:09 PM

well what do you know.

http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Somalia/10095154.html

Quote:

Disarmament drive leads to firefight in Mogadishu
Reuters

Mogadishu: Ethiopian troops and Somali pro-testers exchanged fire in Mogadishu yesterday killing three people, witnesses said, as hundreds of Somalis demonstrated against the foreign forces and a government disarmament drive.

The protesters hurled stones and burnt tyres, wreathing streets in smoke and reviving memories of the chaos that had largely stopped during six months of strict Islamist rule before the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) was ousted last week.

"The Ethiopians opened fire and shot dead a young boy and a lady, they also killed another person," a witness said. Other witnesses agreed.

"The [government] and Ethiopian troops invaded our country and they have shot my son for no good reason," Omar Halane, the father of the boy, said.

A government source said one person had died and that police had opened fire in Tarbuunka square.

"Protesters shot at policemen, the police returned fire killing one man," the source said. "I don't know how many people have been wounded."

In the latest show of discontent with the forces that ousted the Islamists, hundreds of Somalis marched through the capital chanting "Down with Ethiopia".

Ethiopian soldiers fired in the air to disperse crowds and government troops armed with AK-47s patrolled the streets. Somalia's interim government wants to install itself in Mogadishu.

Within hours of the Islamists fleeing, militiamen loyal to warlords reappeared at checkpoints in the city where they used to rob and terrorise civilians.

Muse Sudi Yalahow, a warlord dislodged by the Islamists in the June battle for Mogadishu, came back to the capital yesterday but declined to speak to reporters.

"We are against the Ethiopian troops' occupation. We don't want them, they should leave," 20-year-old protester Ahmad Mohammad said. "They are harassing us in our own country. The government is imposing the Ethiopians on us."

A hospital source, speaking before the shooting incident, said at least five civilians were hurt.

The interim government had given Mogadishu residents until last Thursday to hand in their weapons or be disarmed by force. Government spokesman Abdul Rahman Dinari told local radio yesterday the disarmament programme had been postponed. Few weapons have been handed in as locals wait to see if the government can impose the relative stability experienced under the SICC.

SirLance · 01-07-2007, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mixedmedia

I'm glad America is finally paying attention to this shit, really I am, but a little chagrined at the same time that it is only when they see a common enemy involved (radical Islam) that they exhibit any remarkable amount of alarm over it.

We've been paying attention longer than you know. It's just not public attention.

12-01-2006, 06:20 AM	#2 (permalink)
stevo Rail Baron Location: Tallyfla	maybe the religion of peace doesn't want there to be any violence... __________________ "If I am such a genius why am I drunk, lost in the desert, with a bullet in my ass?" -Otto Mannkusser

12-01-2006, 08:22 AM	#4 (permalink)
dc_dux Location: Washington DC	A big "if" indeed, since it is the US policy of providing funds and arms to the opposing Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism in Somalia that has led to the action by the Islamic Courts. And many of the warlords in the so-called "Allliance" are the same warlords who fought against the US in the early 90s. __________________ "The perfect is the enemy of the good." ~ Voltaire

12-19-2006, 07:54 PM	#9 (permalink)
AVoiceOfReason Psycho Location: Greenwood, Arkansas	It has the makings of Afghanistan as the Taliban took over, and I figure someday, they'll have to be dealt with like the brood of vipers they are. I just hope it's before a major terrorist plot is hatched from that soil. __________________ AVOR A Voice Of Reason, not necessarily the ONLY one.

12-01-2006, 07:17 AM	#3 (permalink)
ratbastid Darth Papa Location: Yonder	With a few BIG "ifs", this could be the best thing that could happen to Mogdaishu. "If" it's carried out universally, with no partisan bias. "If" it's done thoroughly--they prevent secret stashing and black market sale of weapons. "If" it can last. Like I say... big "ifs".