A group of powerful warlords controlling the Somali capital has formed a new political party whose main goal is to oppose extremism associated with hard-line Islamic courts in the lawless Horn of Africa nation, officials with ties to the party said on Tuesday.
The Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT), launched on Saturday in southern Mogadishu, aims to play a key role in fighting terrorism in the country that has lacked a functional government for the past 15 years.
Witnesses said this week’s fighting in southern Mogadishu, which left at least 18 people dead and displaced hundreds of others, pitted ARPCT-backed gunmen against Islamic courts militia.
Critics have accused the Islamic courts, which have set up a form of quasi-judicial system in Mogadishu, of having links to the al-Qaeda network.
Members of the ARPCT, headquartered in the capital’s Daynile district, include warlords Mohamed Qanyare Afrah, Musa Sudi Yalahow, Omar Mohamoud Finish and Botan Issa and Bashir Raghe Shirar, the officials said.
Western intelligence groups have long warned that the world’s failure to support efforts to stabilise lawless Somalia risked turning the country into a breeding ground for Islamic extremism.
Last year, the International Crisis Group (ICG) policy group repeated the warning but said that although some militant Islamic groups, including those with alleged ties to al-Qaeda, were using Somalia as a base, there was little sign they had more than cursory backing from locals.
The rise in Islamic extremism has been held in check by Somalis’ general dislike and distrust of radical Muslim clerics and their courts, and the restrictions imposed by fundamentalist militias, the group said.
The formation of the party comes as rival factions in the splintered Somalia transitional government prepare to hold their first parliamentary session in the regional town of Baidoa, about 250km west of Mogadishu, on February 26.
The factions are headed by arch-foes President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and parliamentary Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, who have disagreed on where to locate the seat of the government since relocating from Kenya in June last year. — Sapa-AFP