New Somali Leader Declares Country Will Be Ruled Under Islamic Law
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
NAIROBI, Kenya – The radical cleric named to lead the Muslim militia controlling most of Somalia’s south said he envisions an Islamic state, a stand likely to reinforce American fears the nation could become a haven for extremists.
Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, who already was on the American terrorist watch list as a suspected collaborator with Al Qaeda, made the comment while discussing efforts to form a functioning central government in Somalia for the first time in 15 years.
“Somalia is a Muslim nation and its people are also Muslim, 100%. Therefore any government we agree on would be based on the holy Koran and the teachings of our Prophet Muhammad,” Sheik Aweys told the Associated Press in a telephone interview, his first comments to the press since being named head of the Islamic militia Saturday.
The militia defeated an alliance of American-backed secular warlords this month to take control of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and now holds sway over much of southern Somalia.
Sheik Aweys’s stance could put Somalia on a collision course with America and the United Nations. The previous militia leader, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, had been reaching out to the West and Somalia’s largely powerless U.N.-backed interim government.
The 71-year-old Sheik Aweys, speaking from his home in central Somalia, condemned Western-style democracy and said he was under no obligation to abide by the wishes of the West. “It is not compulsory for us to hate what the Westerners hate,” he said.
[An award-winning Swedish journalist was fatally shot in the back as he filmed a demonstration in the restive capital of Somalia, where lawlessness and anger at foreigners run high despite peace efforts, the AP reported.
On June 23, a gunman came up from behind and fired a single shot from close range at Martin Adler, a veteran photographer, reporter, and television cameraman. The unidentified gunman then disappeared into the crowd. Adler, 47, was covering a crowd hailing a deal between the U.N.-backed government and the Islamic leaders who control Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia.
Demonstrators also were protesting alleged Ethiopian interference in Somali affairs.]
