Jihad & Co. - Black Markets and Islamist Power by Aisha Ahmad

Author:Aisha Ahmad [Ahmad, Aisha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Published: 2017-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

Somalia: From Islamic Courts to Al-Qaeda Franchise

After fifteen years of uninterrupted clan conflict, the ICU finally put an end to the scourge of clan warfare in Somalia. The Islamists’ success at home, however, also provoked a new international crisis abroad. The Taliban experience weighed heavily on decision makers in Washington, who feared an extremist takeover in East Africa. “The first concern, of course, would be to make sure that Somalia does not become an al-Qaeda safe haven, [that] it doesn’t become a place from which terrorists can plot and plan,” said then-president George W. Bush on the rise of the ICU.44 Sean McCormack, the US State Department spokesman, added, “We certainly want to work with people in Somalia who are interested in combating terrorism. The presence of foreign terrorists in Somalia is a destabilising fact.”45

While these fears were intense, however, the fact is that they were largely unfounded. In 2006, the number of foreign extremists in Somalia was actually limited to a small handful with little political influence.46 Although al-Qaeda had long sought to infiltrate Somali Islamist organizations, transnational terrorists consistently found local Islamists in the xenophobic country to be much less hospitable than the Afghan theater.47 In the Somali case, American attitudes toward the ICU were based more on fear and misinformation than hard evidence of terrorist infiltration. After their disastrous relations with the Taliban, however, the Americans had little confidence that Somalia’s new Islamist government would be moderate.

To assuage these fears and prevent a clash, the ICU tried to extend an olive branch. Sheikh Sharif penned an open letter to the United States, the United Nations, the African Union, the Arab League, and the Organization of Islamic Countries (sic), introducing the ICU to the world.48 “We categorically deny and reject any accusation that we are harbouring any terrorists or supporters of terrorism in the areas where the courts operate,” the letter stated. “We share no objectives, goals or methods with groups that sponsor or support terrorism.”49 The statement then specifically invited the international community to engage with the ICU on the issue of terrorism, saying:

We invite the International Community to visit the area where the court operates and see for themselves if there are any terrorists elements being harbored or living in this area. We commit ourselves and our clan elders to this position: to be open and honest in order to spare the Somali people the violence and the suffering being perpetrated by the warlords. We have nothing to hide from the international community and we strongly believe that, once they realize what we do and what we have achieved, they will support our initiative and efforts to bring peace and stability to Somalia. 50

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