SOMALIA: Islamic courts parade women fighters as they rally against US proposal to remove Somali arms embargo

Thousands of Somalis gathered in Mogadishu on Tuesday (November 28) in support of the powerful Islamic Courts Union that controls the city and much of southern Somalia. The Islamic courts organised the rally upon news that the United States will soon unveil a draft Security Council resolution authorizing African peacekeepers to help prop up Somalia's shaky interim government, U.N. diplomats said on Monday (November 27). The resolution would approve deployment in the shaky northeast African nation of a joint peacekeeping force put together by the African Union and the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), as the two groups have requested. The text, being prepared in consultation with Britain, would also ease a U.N. arms embargo to enable both the peacekeepers and interim government security forces to legally obtain weapons, said the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the resolution was not yet in final form. But even before its debut in the 15-nation council, the measure has kicked off a lively debate over whether it would help stabilize Somalia, as Washington and London hope, or trigger wider fighting, as European Union experts and a major international think-tank have suggested. The resolution has also met with strong opposition from the Islamists, who have also called for a holy war or Jihad against neighbouring Ethiopia. Several women were seen brandishing rifles at the anti-US rally in Mogadishu. "As you have seen, even our women have taken their guns - it's the first time. (he chants: Allahu Akbar several times) There is no one left, if our women have taken up their weapons, this is the time we defend our country, we give our money and our life, everybody has to bring their money and weapons to the Islamic courts centre," said Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the Islamists executive chairman. The Brussels-based International Crisis Group, in a report released on Monday (November 27), warned the text could backfire on its supporters by undermining the transitional government, strengthening rival Islamists and leading to wider war. A regional intervention force should be deployed only if it is supported by all warring factions, the group cautioned, encouraging the Security Council to instead press both the interim government and Islamists to agree to a cease-fire and the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Somalia. The United States has accused the Islamists, which have been expanding their reach after seizing the Somali capital of Mogadishu in June, of harbouring al Qaeda operatives. Washington has also warned that neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia could be targets of extremist elements from Somalia. Ethiopia says it has sent a few hundred military trainers into Somalia to guard against a possible Islamist attack. But a recent U.N.-commissioned report says it has deployed thousands of troops in Somalia. The report by the U.N. Monitoring Group for Somalia said the move could fuel rather than dampen instability in the region and called instead for bolstering the U.N. arms embargo through increased border surveillance.

ITN Source | November 29, 2006

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