War-weary Somalis heaved sighs of relief on Monday as Islamist militia claimed to have wrested complete control of the capital from a United States-backed warlord alliance, ending months of bloody fighting.
Yet many voiced concern at what the future would bring, with the city’s 11 Sharia courts vowing to re-establish order under Islamic law after 15 years of chaos during which the warlords ruled by the barrel of the gun.
And few seemed convinced that four months of bloody battles that killed at least 347 people, wounded more than 1 500 and saw large chunks of the already shattered capital further reduced to rubble, were actually over.
”It’s good to see conflict resolved but I don’t want to celebrate a temporary victory,” said housewife Hawa Ismail Qorey, as she made a tentative foray into the city centre to shop.
”Mogadishu is witnessing political history, but it may be good or it may be bad,” she told Agence France-Press.
Some recalled hopes for peace that accompanied the 1991 ousting of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre, which, instead of bringing stability, plunged the country into a cauldron of lawlessness with Mogadishu at its centre.
”People thought then that there would be peace but the situation remained tense and got much worse,” said Mohamud Haji Amar, a 70-year-old retired businessman who lives with his extended family.
”I would not be too hasty in making any historic decisions at this point,” he told AFP at a shopping centre in the south-central district of Hamerweyn, which was completely destroyed by the fighting. ”I want to wait and see.”
Mogadishu resident Hassan Yasiin said he was thrilled that the warlords had been defeated but called on the city’s new rulers to quickly restore a functioning administration and police force.
”I have wanted law and order to come to Mogadishu for a long time,” he told AFP, adding, however, that that could not be achieved unless the Islamists truly implement Qur’anic law.
”If the courts really implement an Islamic agenda, the country will be at peace,” Yasiin said.
But his excitement at the prospects for peace under Sharia law was not shared by all of Mogadishu’s largely moderate Muslim population.
”What I am afraid of is if they interfere with the education system and bring religion by force to the schools,” said Asha Idris, a mother of five in northern Mogadishu’s Abdulaziz district, echoing the concerns of many.
The Islamic courts have wielded increasing influence in the city as they moved to fill a power vacuum, prompting the formation in February of the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism (ARPCT).
The warlord alliance, which was created with US backing, had sought to curb the courts’ power and hunt down extremists, including al-Qaeda members, the Islamists are alleged to be harbouring.
The US has never publicly confirmed or denied its support for the alliance but US officials have told AFP they had given the warlords money and intelligence help to rein in ”creeping Talibanisation” in Somalia.
The imposition of Sharia law across Mogadishu has long been a concern of Western governments, which fear a rise in radical Islam in the country of 10-million, similar to what happened in Afghanistan in the 1990s.
With Somalia’s fledgling and largely powerless transitional government unable to assert control over vast swathes of the country, the nation could easily fall into the hands of fundamentalists, analysts warn.
But that concern failed to immediately resonate with many Mogadishu residents on Monday.
”Forget about who is running the city,” said Ali Muhyadin in the Karan district. ”We only want peace and the return of all Somalis to the capital without clan discrimination.” — AFP
