Belgium, EURO - Admitting Muslim societies had fallen into a deep malaise, the leaders of the so-called Islamic States, in their final statement, said: last week ''The Islamic nation is in a crises''. ''We need decisive action to fight deviant ideas because they are the justification of terrorism. There is a need to confront deviant ideology wherever it appears, including in school curriculums. Islam is the religion of diversity and tolerance,'' the Guardian quoted the statement of leaders as saying.
Fears that lawless Southern Somalia, Puntland, Somaliland and Somali zone in Ethiopia may become a new safe haven for Al -Itihad Al-Islamia are generating renewed Ethiopia, Eritrea and Western interest in the Horn of African country of Somalia, largely ignored by the West since the ill-fated U.N. peace operation in Somalia closed in 1995. This revived interest and concern has collided with the troubling realization that little is known about the nature and extent of political Islam in contemporary Somali society of the Horn of Africa..
The hardline Islamic fundamentalism in Somalia is really frightening for many reasons. For one thing it is consolidating itself in a stateless situation not visibly seen by the outside world. Besides, unlike in the case of the Taliban or Binladin's Al-Qa'ida it is not possible to deal with it or tame it through diplomacy or bilateral relationship. Worse, Al-Itihad islamists in Somalia control almost all business and political structures. Every lucrative and strategic business in Somalia is run by a rotating fund of islamist forces. All main Somali business activities includin telecommunication, import-export agencies, food-stuffs and the supply of building materials is owned by the undergroumd known Al-itihad Islamic extremist members in Dubai, Bossaso, Kismayo, Hargeisa, Jigjiga, Baladwyne, Jawhar and Mogadishu. Clearly Al-itihad remains still active in Somalia and are slowly but steadily controlling lifeline of Somalia. The method is very effective because it follows a bottom-up approach of multi-faceted process of state-formation unseen before in other parts of the world.
Unlike in Iran, Afghanistan or the Sudan in which islamists took power either by a coupdetat or an armed insurgency, in Somalia Al-itihad groups are using a grass roots approach and a combined struggle of using ideology, business, military expansionism in a typical state formation applied in the past to create stateles enviroment to rule without internationallaw. If this process reaches its final stage it will become highly regimented, formidable and a hard nut to crack within the next 10 years.
Ethiopia was fighting the Al-itihad alone because it constituted a threat to its own security. Luckily, Ethiopia commands a strong and formidable army which dealt a blow to Islamic terrorist Al-itihad groups in the Somali region. The only government in the region, the Eritrean government, too which supports an Islamic Al-itihad to destabilize Ethiopia, did not escape from Ethiopia's military might. But the world was watching Ethiopia's struggle against Al-itihad from a distance as if it is only the concern of Ethiopia. The record of Ethiopia shows that it has both the political, organizational and military capacity to deal with the Al-itihad Islamic terrorist groups and their ONLF supporters in the Somali National Regional State.
Efforts to counter the threat of Al-itihad (Wahabi Islamism) in Somalia will backfire unless international actors embrace Somali priorities – the restoration of peace, a legitimate government and essential services. Somalia’s Islamists the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines the real but limited threat of terrorism in and from Somalia, and argues that the best way to confront jihadism in Somalia is to assist the vast majority of Somalis who desire a democratic, broad-based and responsive government that reflects the Islamic faith. Counter terrorism strategies must include the Somali perspective and concerns if they are to succeed. That Islamist extremism has failed to take broader hold in the country is due to Somali resistance, not foreign counter terrorism efforts, Crisis Group concludes.
“Unless the international community is prepared to confront the complex challenge of helping Somalis establish a broadly inclusive government of national unity, they may continue to score victories in their battles against terrorism in the Horn while losing the wider war”, says Matt Bryden, Crisis Group’s Horn of Africa Project Director.
Since the collapse of the government in 1991, there has been a rise in Islamist reformist movements, the majority of which are non-violent and opposed to ideological extremism. The groups responsible for the murders of Somalis and foreigners, and linked to other terrorist attacks, are by far the smallest in number and do not have popular support. International actors should, therefore, make clear that their counter terrorism efforts are aimed at a handful of criminals – many of them foreigners – not the Somali population at large.
The international community should also resist the urge to back one faction of the Transitional Federal Government, which since its creation last year has seemed determined to repeat past mistakes. Partisan interventions will only backfire by uniting jihadi Islamists, moderates and rival political factions in a common cause, which would in turn amplify the jihadi threat rather than remove it.
“Western fears that the growth of Islamist courts, charities and businesses translates to a conspiracy to transform Somalia into an Islamic state are not well grounded”, says Suliman Baldo, Crisis Group’s Africa Program Director. “The reality is that Islamic activists are diverse and defined more by their differences than their similarities. They will only be driven to cooperate with each other if the international community fails to address Somalia’s real needs”.
Published December 13, 2005, Horn of Africa News
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