Somalia blames U.S. for funding Mogadishu warlords
NAIROBI, May 4 (Reuters) - The United States is funding a coalition of Somali warlords fighting hardline Islamic militia in the capital Mogadishu as part of Washington's declared war on terrorism, a Somali government spokesman said on Thursday.
Some 90 people were killed in March in battles between fighters linked to the influential Islamic courts and those tied to a self-styled anti-terrorism coalition in Mogadishu, comprising most of the capital's powerful warlords.
It was the worst violence in Somalia in years.
"The U.S. government funded the warlords in the recent battle in Mogadishu, there is no doubt about that," spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told Reuters by telephone from Baidoa, a provincial town where the interim Somali government is based.
"The warlords, through U.S support, have caused so many deaths of innocent civilians in the recent fighting in Mogadishu," he said.
"This co-operation ... only fuels further civil war."
U.S. officials have declined comment on the persistent reports from foreign and local sources in Somalia that Washington has funnelled large sums of money to the alliance since the start of the year.
"RUMOURS EVERYWHERE"
Washington has long viewed Somalia, a mainly Muslim nation, as a potential haven for Islamic militants because it lacks central authority. Warlords overthrew military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and have carved up territory between them since.
The United States has been rumoured to have paid the coalition of Mogadishu warlords in exchange for help tracking down al Qaeda militants. The coalition's full name is the "Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism."
Dinari urged the United States to respect Somalia's sovereignty by working closely with President Abdullahi Yusuf's fledgling government to prevent militant cells from forming in the Horn of Africa nation of 10 million.
The recent fighting in the capital has demonstrated how little control Somalia's government, formed in neighbouring Kenya in late 2004, has on the ground.
Somali officials had until now been cautious about responding to the reports of U.S. cash going to Mogadishu.
"We have no official communication but these rumours are everywhere," Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi said in Baidoa on Monday during a visit by U.N. Horn of Africa envoy Kjell Magne Bondevik.
Parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, who has close links to power-brokers in Mogadishu, also drew short of confirming the rumours but expressed concern.
"We do not expect the American government to just pump dollars to Somali people to create problems. They are our friends and we expect friendship from them," he said on Monday.
The perception of U.S. involvement has led to new fears that Mogadishu's militia battles are shifting from the commercial to the ideological and creating a new arena for Islamic militants to fight what they call Washington's war on Islam.
The renewed tensions in Mogadishu have complicated efforts to move Yusuf's government from Baidoa to Mogadishu.
Some 90 people were killed in March in battles between fighters linked to the influential Islamic courts and those tied to a self-styled anti-terrorism coalition in Mogadishu, comprising most of the capital's powerful warlords.
It was the worst violence in Somalia in years.
"The U.S. government funded the warlords in the recent battle in Mogadishu, there is no doubt about that," spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told Reuters by telephone from Baidoa, a provincial town where the interim Somali government is based.
"The warlords, through U.S support, have caused so many deaths of innocent civilians in the recent fighting in Mogadishu," he said.
"This co-operation ... only fuels further civil war."
U.S. officials have declined comment on the persistent reports from foreign and local sources in Somalia that Washington has funnelled large sums of money to the alliance since the start of the year.
"RUMOURS EVERYWHERE"
Washington has long viewed Somalia, a mainly Muslim nation, as a potential haven for Islamic militants because it lacks central authority. Warlords overthrew military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and have carved up territory between them since.
The United States has been rumoured to have paid the coalition of Mogadishu warlords in exchange for help tracking down al Qaeda militants. The coalition's full name is the "Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism."
Dinari urged the United States to respect Somalia's sovereignty by working closely with President Abdullahi Yusuf's fledgling government to prevent militant cells from forming in the Horn of Africa nation of 10 million.
The recent fighting in the capital has demonstrated how little control Somalia's government, formed in neighbouring Kenya in late 2004, has on the ground.
Somali officials had until now been cautious about responding to the reports of U.S. cash going to Mogadishu.
"We have no official communication but these rumours are everywhere," Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi said in Baidoa on Monday during a visit by U.N. Horn of Africa envoy Kjell Magne Bondevik.
Parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, who has close links to power-brokers in Mogadishu, also drew short of confirming the rumours but expressed concern.
"We do not expect the American government to just pump dollars to Somali people to create problems. They are our friends and we expect friendship from them," he said on Monday.
The perception of U.S. involvement has led to new fears that Mogadishu's militia battles are shifting from the commercial to the ideological and creating a new arena for Islamic militants to fight what they call Washington's war on Islam.
The renewed tensions in Mogadishu have complicated efforts to move Yusuf's government from Baidoa to Mogadishu.
posted by Marko at 5/04/2006 07:31:00 AM
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