Islamic militants take Mogadishu

Islamic militias who have declared they will turn Somalia into a religious state have taken the lawless capital of Mogadishu after a 3 month battle against "coalition" groups of self-styled anti-terrorism warlords widely that are believed to have covert US support. The US has refused to discuss persistent reports it is covertly funnelling $100,000 a month or more to the warlords but has said "it will work with anyone combating terrorism."

A US diplomat based in Nairobi, Michael Zorick , was transferred in April to another posting in Chad after internally criticizing such payments,

On Monday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, ''We do have real concerns about the presence of foreign terrorists in Somalia, and that informs an important aspect of our policy with regard to Somalia.''

Countrywide Sharia law is the goal

"Until we get the Islamic state, we will continue with the Islamic struggle in Somalia," Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, chairman of Mogadishu Islamic courts, told a rally of hundreds of people many of them supporters of Al Itihad Al Islamiya .

"This is a long Islamic struggle and it will continue until the whole country comes under sharia law," Fuad Ahmed, a militiaman loyal to the Islamic side, told Reuters. "We are ready to shed our blood in order for that struggle to succeed."

But thousands of Mogadishu residents protested against the takeover and defeated warlords said they would fight back. Clan elders warned the Islamic side against more advances.

Meanwhile the push North continues with advances towards the warlord stronghold of Jowhar, about 90 km (56 miles) north of Mogadishu.

Turning point in the history of Somalia

Omar Jamal, director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul, Minn., is widely reported to be calling called the Islamic militia's victory in Mogadishu a turning point in the country's history.

"It is exactly the same thing that happened with the rise to power of the Taliban" in Afghanistan, he said, adding that the extremists are "using the people's weariness of violence, rape and civil war" to gain support for a government based on Islamic law.

``The Islamist takeover means that the policy and the strategy of the United States has gone terribly wrong," said Suliman Baldo , director of the Africa program for the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit that works to resolve conflicts around the world. ``The US will need to think very quickly [what are] the alternatives to that strategy" that had depended upon Mogadishu's ousted warlords.

US Djibouti base not involved says Task Force

US intelligence officials have either denied involvement in Somalia, or declined to comment. Major David Westover , spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa , said yesterday his Djibouti-based operation ``does not and has had no operations in Somalia."

Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) began moving all headquarters personnel and equipment from its flagship, USS Mount Whitney, in the Gulf of Aden, into facilities at Camp Le Monier on May 6, 2003.

More info on Djibouti base here on previous post in February 2006.