Somalia Edges toward Sharia

The Somali government goes forward with moves to establish sharia law across the country, but insurgents call the plans 'deceptive,' Abdurrahman Warsameh writes for ISN Security Watch.

The Somali parliament is expected to debate and vote this week on the implementation of Islamic sharia law after the new president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, agreed to accept the motion.

This follows the recommendation by influential Islamic clerics that the war-torn country be ruled by the Islamic law, a key demand of hard-line insurgent groups and moderate clerics. 

But armed opposition groups rejected the move as “a plot to betray their struggle for an Islamic state in Somalia” and vowed to continue to fight both Somali government forces and a small contingent of African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces based in, the capital Mogadishu.

Since his election in January, Sheikh Ahmed, a former rebel leader and a moderate Islamist, has been painstakingly trying to court the radical, and powerful, Somali insurgent group - external pageal-Qaida affiliated Al-Shabaab.

The group, listed by the US as a terrorist organization, now controls most of southern Somalia except for a few pockets in Mogadishu protected by AU-backed government forces and fighters loyal to the president's former rebel faction.

Sharia an Appeasement

The current Somali government comprises former members of one of the main insurgent groups - the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS)- led by Sheikh Ahmed and members of the former Somali government, which struck a peace and power-sharing deal with the ARS.

In February, pro-government religious leaders from the Union of Islamic Scholars gave the Somali government 120 days to, among other things, announce that the East African country would be ruled according to Islamic law.

The Somali cabinet endorsed the introduction of sharia law during a meeting in the Somali capital Tuesday, while the ministers recommended of the establishment of a joint committee “to review the constitutional charter for any inconsistencies with the Islamic teaching.”

The call by the Union was primarily aimed at external pageappeasing Al-Shabaab and the other newly formed coalition of diverse groups known as "Hezbul Islam" (the Islamic Party), all of which have been demanding the imposition of sharia law.

“We wanted to make sure that no group has any further justification to continue the bloodshed in the country, which is now led by a [a person] who advocates sharia,” Union member Sheikh Ahmed Abdi Diso, told ISN Security Watch in Mogadishu.

Insurgents Say Government 'Unfit'

Al-Shabaab and Hezbul Islam leaders said that they would not be "taken in" by the plots designed to deceive them, arguing that the current government, although led by an Islamist, albeit moderate, is no different from the previous secular government led by former Somali ruler Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed.

Hezbul Islam spokesman Sheikh Muse Arale said the present government is 50-50 secular Islamist and is “unfit” to govern by sharia law, stating that parliament members and cabinet ministers include former warlords who, he said cannot be “trusted to implement Islam.”

“It is unacceptable to us and all the other mujahideens (holy warriors) to be ruled by our enemies, whom we fought to liberate our people from them even if they chose Sharif as their president,” Sheikh Arale told ISN Security Watch

“We will continue the Jihad until true Islamic state is born in the country.”

In Late February Hezbul Islam fighters launched deadly attack on government and AU forces deployed in Mogadishu, leaving more than 50 people dead and almost a 150 others wounded, most of them civilians.

The group’s commanders claimed the attacks were in retaliation for government and AU forces encroaching on their stronghold in south Mogadishu, a charge Somali government vehemently denied.

Al-Shabaab leaders have called on all insurgent fighters to unite to establish a “real Islamic state” in Somalia, saying the current new leadership was imposed on Somalia by the US and Ethiopia.

Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia earlier this year after a two-year stint in support of government forces.  Their presence, backed by the US, was used as rallying cry for the insurgency.

Which Sharia Is 'Real' Sharia?

The Somali government maintains the implementation of sharia law is not new, as that had been one of Sheikh Ahmed's pledges during his election campaigns .

“Our national constitutional charter recognizes Islam as the religion of the nation and also the basis for any legislation that the Somali parliament has to do, and it also included in the president’s election manifesto so, this is nothing new,” Presidential spokesman Abdulahi Qadar told ISN Security Watch.

However, when the two sides discuss sharia law, they seem to allude to different versions; and the battle is already underway for the hearts and minds of Somalis, contends Yusuf Muse, a political commentator in Mogadishu.

“For Al-Shabaab and the like, theirs seems to be the more strict form of sharia, which they now impose in southern Somalia : People are flogged simply for sitting next to the opposite sex in commuter buses or a person could face death for shirking the five regular obligatory prayers in Islam,” Muse told ISN Security Watch.

But, he added, for moderates, including the president, a more lenient version of Islamic law in which tolerance and compassion is the basis of the relationship between the government and the governed.

“Because they are Muslims they will respect the teaching of their religion and will abide by it without being forced,” said Sheikh Diso, one of the moderate pro-government Islamic scholars.

However, Somali analysts say the two sides are locked into their positions, with each claiming to represent the true face of Islam. Even though they have so far managed to avoid direct confrontation - despite the sometimes inflammatory remarks issued by both sides - it appears to be a matter of time before the guns start firing again.

“Then we will be back to square one,  where everyone is fighting everyone else to impose their version of the sharia law but then the violence will not be confined to Somalia, I am afraid,” Muse said. 

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