بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

Question:

Sheikh Shareef Ahmad has become the president of Somalia, so does this indicate the resurgence of the Shar’iah courts as they were two years ago. If it is so, why is the al-Shabab Mujahideen Movement opposed to them though they a part of the courts or at least very close to them? Has in the meantime Sheikh Shareef changed and the al-Shabab Mujahideen Movement is trying to sideline him, does this mean that the al-Shabab Mujahideen Movement is a sincere and dedicated force?

Answer:

Yes, Sheikh Shareef Ahmad is not what he used to be. He was the head of the Islamic courts in the past, and has now come to head the country. He was earlier fighting the greedy foreign kafir colonialists and was talking about implementing the Islamic Shariah, but his political acumen and awareness was very weak, just like most of the Islamic militant movements have. Therefore the sincere ones or al-Mukhlisoon sent him a delegation advising him against negotiating with the government of Abdullah Yousuf who was an American agent.

He was also advised not to negotiate with the US, either directly or even through American agents or under the auspices of the United Nations or even the African Union…all of these are loyal to America, rather they are all America’s hands which it manipulates at will. The delegation also advised him remain opposed to the kuffar colonialists…it is another matter that he did not heed the advice and negotiated with the government of Abdullah Yousuf in Khartoum under the aegis of the UN, Arab League and the African Union.

Anyway, now he is in power, after the destruction of Ethiopia and expulsion of Shareef from Somalia to Kenya and later to Djibouti, he became the president of the Somalian Liberation Front (Djobouti Wing) when the Islamin courts were split and remained so in Asmara and Djobouti, despite both of these countries being loyal to the West…! During this period the Sheikh indulged in direct and indirect negotiations until he came to the position of becoming the head of the Somalian government which is not very different to that of Abdullah Yousuf-thanks to the blessings of America, the West and their agents…the events have now come to be as follows:

1. At the end of 2006 when the Islamic courts were defeated at the hands of the Ethiopian forces which were in turn backed by America to subdue Somalia on its behalf, Shareef went into exile to Kenya where he met the US Ambassador in the presence of US intelligence officials.

2. After the split of the Islamic courts into two factions, Sheikh Shareef led the Djibouti faction and began to negotiate with Abdullah Yousuf’s government and with Ethiopia until he signed the Djibouti agreement on 26th October, 2008 C.E.

3. The agreement was reached under American patronage and after acceptance by Ethiopia, this was because the Ethiopian forces had incurred huge losses and wanted to withdraw, but at the same time they wanted to save their face; i.e. through an agreement to that effect, this is why after the treaty was signed, Ethiopia began issuing statements about withdrawal of its troops.

The French news agency (AFP) reported on 28th November, 2008 that Ethiopia will pull out its troops from Somalia by the end of the year and this was confirmed through two official letters addressed to the African Union and the United Nations. AFP reported Waheedi Bella, the Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman saying: “We have come to the conclusion that it is inappropriate for Ethiopia to keep its forces in Somalia. We have accomplished our task and are proud of this achievement, but the hopes that we pinned on the international community have been frustrated”. But the same spokesman before the treaty had remarked to AFP on 24th November, 2008 and said: “It (the treaty) follows the Ethiopian direction of troops withdrawal in a phased manner.”

Indeed Somalia is important for Ethiopia, not only in the context of fighting America’s proxy war, but because it is Ethiopia’s neighbour and occupied its Oghadin region during wars in 1977 and 1978 which Somalia wants to regain, but has failed to do so. Therefore Ethiopia wants a regime in Somalia which will not be hostile to it and which will not demand the Ogaden territory. Moreover Ethiopia serves US interests in the horn of Africa and it was America that sent the Ethiopian troops into Somalia and the same US asked it to withdraw from thereafter the Djobiuti accord on 26th October, 2008 when it atlast found what it was looking for, in the person of Sheikh Shareef.

4. America has seen that Sheikh Shareef is better equipped to confront the Mujahideen because of his Islamic past. The Americans also understand that Ethiopia being an African country cannot remain in the midst of the Islamists for long, thus it was more suitable for the US to employ one of the Islamists to play this role. Hence America worked on Sheikh Shareef and its agents and Sudan and Kenya, especially of Sudan were able to overwhelm him, Hasan Makki, a political expert observes: “The Sudanese government explained to Sheikh Shareef that it was not possible for him to overcome the Ethiopians, nor it was possible for him to work with the international community, as if he did not exist for them. Therefore Sheikh Shareef began to heed such advices, after all, he was educated in the Sudanese educational institutions.” He adds: “The Sudanese mediation played a major part in these (Djibouti treaty) deliberations.”

Thus America had won over Shareef to the extent that he began to sing in America’s praise. In an interview with Voice of America’s Somalian branch on 20th February, 2009, he described American policies in Somalian as being positive right since the start of the negotiations until the present time, and added: “We hope these efforts fructify.”!!

5. Sheikh Shareef became Somalia’s president winning a majority votes of the same parliament which was elected in Abdullah Yousuf’s term! Now the next step was the appointment of a prime minister, where again America played a major role. Omar ‘Abd al-Rasheed Sharmarki, a US- resident, and a moderate according to US standards. He had held various positions at the UN and was also the Somalian ambassador to Washington during Abdullah Yousuf’s period. He is the son of a former Somalian president Abdirashid Ali Shermarke.

6. America was keen that Omar ‘Abd al-Rasheed Sharmarki should be the prime minister due to the fact he had earlier lived in the US, he was not involved in the civil war because he was away from it and far away in the US and this placed in a position of better acceptability to the common man in Somalia.

It may be pertinent to mention that such is the usual norm of the colonialist powers; whenever they would find a man who has the potential to effectively serve their interests and agenda, they would replace their existing agent with their new-find who could serve them better. Thus America abandoned Abdullah Yousuf who had now been worn-out and exposed as a traitor to Somalia, so the US forced him to resign on 29th December, 2008 C.E and had him expelled from Mogadishu to Muscat (Oman). He had earlier ruled Ponteland region of Somalia from 1998 until 2004 when he was declared president. He later took refuge in Yemen.

7. America believes that it has consolidated its hold over Somalia by bringing Sheikh Shareef, who has an Islamist past in the Shariah courts which enjoyed popular support during its rule, as the president; and by having Omar ‘Abd al-Rasheed Sharmarki, who was not involved in the civil war which makes him more acceptable to the masses, as the prime minister. However, its hopes have faltered, it has now become clear that this regime is not very different to the earlier ones except in outward appearance.

Speaking with all optimism about the present regime, the real difference between the former regime and the present one is that while Abdullah Yousuf knowingly served American interests and he did so on purpose, the present one led by Sheikh Shareef is unwittingly doing so while believing that he is doing good for Somalia! We had hoped that Sheikh Shareef would remain alert about the intrigues and conspiracies of the kuffar colonialists just as he had been earlier. We still hope that Allah willing, he will return to his earlier self.

8. In light of what this government stands exposed of. The Muslims especially the al-Shabab Mujahideen Movement have continued to resist it even more intensely. The al-Shabab Mujahideen Movement has split from both (Asmara & Djibouti factions of) the Islamic courts after the Asmara accord in September 2007 C.E and accused them both hobnobbing with the secularists and abandoning Jihad in the path of Allah سبحانه وتعالى
The al-Shabab Mujahideen Movement has declared its intention of waging jihad against Ethiopia and the United States to recover the entire lost territories in the Horn of Africa. It also intends to establish the rule of Islam which overrides petty nationalism etc. The US State Department has issued a statement declaring the al-Shabab Mujahideen Movement to be a separatist, extremist and violent outfit with many of its members to the al-Qaeda organisation. [Chines NewsPage: 18.03.08].

The US had arrested its former leader Ismail ‘Arali in mid 2007 in Djibouti and sent him to the Guantanamo Bay prison. It had also chosen the movement of Mukhtar Abd al Rahman “Abu Zubair” and Mukhtar Rabbou “Abu Mansour” as its official spokesman. [al-Arabia: 22.12.2007]. this official spokesman responded to the US State Department saying: “Our relationship with al-Qaeda is the relationship that one Muslim has with another, the essence of which is loyalty, to keep away from kuffar and reach all Muslims and love them.” He said that “the movement is pleased and happy that it been placed by the US in the list of terror.”

A statement issued by the movement on 5th April, 2008 said: “We are fully aware that we are not targeted for being Somalians, but because we carry the concept of jihad as it is generally understood which does not recognise either imaginary boundaries or what is known as the ‘Global Order”.

The al-Shabab Mujahideen Movement has been successful in controlling many of Somalia’s cities and towns and is in effective control of more territory than the government. What is apparently clear about this movement is that it sincerely and truthfully fights the kuffar colonialists… but there is weak point as we mentioned earlier, and which is true of most Islamic militant organisations, which is the lack of political awareness. We pray to Allah سبحانه وتعالى that this movement persists in its strong stance against the kuffar colonialists.

However, this movement is politically more aware than the Hizb Islami which is also opposed to the regime of Sheikh Shareef and is composed of 4 separate movements of which the Somalian Liberation Movement (Asmara faction) led by Hassan Tahir Aweys is more prominent, while the other three are: Kamponi Militia, Islamic Front and the Farouq Militia. The Webpage of the al-Shabab movement, “Gorenje” (A webpage considered close to the al-Shabab movement), asked Hassan Tahir Aweys on 24th January, 2009 as to why is still lived in the Eritrean capital Asmara, Hassan Aweys replied that they (Eritreans) are like what al-Najashi was to the early Muslims!! This is him!!

We pray to Allah سبحانه وتعالى for all Islamic movements to be sincere and dedicated to Allah’s Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and that they become fully aware for the conspiracies and schemings of the kuffar who try to deceive Islam and conceal their evil designs more than they reveal,

قَدْ بَدَتِ الْبَغْضَاء مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَمَا تُخْفِي صُدُورُهُمْ أَكْبَرُ

“They desire to harm you severely. Hatred has already appeared from their mouths, but what their breasts conceal is far worse.” [TMQ al-Imraan: 118]