Somalia Militia Installs Religious Court

Somali warlord Abdul Rashid Hussein Shiry leaves the Kenyan immigration department in Nairobi, Wednesday, June 7, 2006, moments before he was escorted to the airport and deported to Somalia. A member of a U.S.-backed secular alliance fighting a bloody battle for power in Somalia was kicked out of Kenya on Wednesday after police found him staying at a luxury hotel in Nairobi, authorities said. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi) (Khalil Senosi - AP)

Shop owner Mostaf Hassan Ali said he would give the militia a chance.

"The secular militia did not provide reliable security to this town. Now, we can rest assured the Islamists can improve the situation," he said.

About 20 miles away in Jowhar, their last remaining stronghold, secular warlords took up defensive positions two days after being pushed out of the capital in a humiliating defeat that came despite U.S. support for their alliance, which has said it wants to root out terrorists.

If militiamen capture Jowhar and consolidate power in Mogadishu, the Islamic Courts Union will effectively control all of the major towns in southern Somalia, further isolating the U.N.-backed transitional government in Baidoa, 155 miles from the capital.

Interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told journalists in Baidoa that the international community needed to urgently send food, medicine and temporary shelter to assist residents of Mogadishu driven from their homes by the fighting.

He called for international mediation to bring peace to Somalia's troubled capital and to prevent any future outbreaks of violence. He said his government was ready to begin negotiations with the Islamic militants.

Somalia's location in the Horn of Africa and its role as a cultural bridge with the Middle East gives the country strategic importance, so much so that the United States has posted troops in neighboring Djibouti to try to prevent terror groups from taking hold in the Horn of Africa.

But U.S. efforts to influence Somalia have consistently fallen flat. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. officials have expressed concerns that Somalia could become a haven for terrorists.