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Radicals Gain Edge In Somali Capital
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On Friday, Osama bin Laden released an audiotape touting the success of Islamic forces in Mogadishu. On Sunday, the 53-country African Union announced plans to send peacekeeping troops into Somalia -- over the vehement objections of the militias in Mogadishu, who have repeatedly made clear their opposition to incursions by foreign forces.
Relations have also cooled between the militias and the nominal national government, which is backed by the African Union and the United Nations. Though largely powerless within Somalia, the government was initially courted by the militias as a way for them to win international legitimacy. At a one-day meeting in Sudan on June 22, the two groups agreed to recognize each other.
But the national government's alliance with Somalia's giant neighbor, Ethiopia, has angered the militias, who fear an attack, analysts say. The Swedish journalist was shot at a rally to protest the involvement of foreign troops as he filmed the burning of a makeshift Ethiopian flag. The crowd was shouting, "Down with Ethiopia" and also "Down with America," a witness said.
The fear of Ethiopia, which fought a border war with Somalia in the late 1970s, runs so deep in Mogadishu that the decision by the African Union to send peacekeeping forces is seen mainly as a pretext for Ethiopia to unleash its far larger and more sophisticated military on the Islamic militias. The city buzzes with frequent reports that Ethiopian troops have already crossed the border and also that Ethiopia's enemy to the north, Eritrea, is funneling guns to the militias.
Some Somalis hold out hope that the same loose coalition of businessmen, activists and clan elders that helped drive out the warlords will soon turn against the militias as power breeds brashness.
Ali Iman Sharmarke, a businessman and radio journalist in Mogadishu, said he believed the Islamic militias would lose power if they grew too strict in their interpretation of religious law. "People will hate them as they hated the warlords," Sharmarke said from Nairobi. "The moderates will not fly with bin Laden."
But Jamal said it was increasingly apparent that outsiders -- bin Laden, the United Nations, the United States, the African Union, Ethiopia, Eritrea -- were shaping events, rather than Somalis.
"It looks like the interests of the Somali will not be looked after," he said. "The situation is really very, very bad right now."
