Mogadishu, 28 Sept. (AKI) - The leader of Somalia's Islamic courts movement, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, has signalled it wants to terminate the decades-long rule of the country by tribal warlords and create an Islamic state. "We were wrong to trust the tribal leaders who have created so many problems for Somalia," Aweys told pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat in an interview. "We need to get away from these tribal problems. We want to form a government that is unhindered by bureacracy...we intend to create an Islamic state and will take Badoia," Aweys stated. | "One turban to rule them all..." |
"We will go back to rule by militias. Rule by tribal warlords is a mistaken policy. We are still in an initial phase of reorganisation," said Aweys. He described interim president Abdullah Yusuf as an Ethiopian government puppet.
Aweys appealed to Arab states not to intervene in Somalia's internal politics, asking them instead to limit themselves to involvement in the areas of health, education and humanitarian aid, projects he said could link Somalia to the "wider Arab nation."
Yusuf last week survived an assassination attempt in Badoia. No-one has claimed responsibility for the carbomb attack outside the parliament building on 18 September that killed eight people. Yusuf supports the deployment of foreign peacekeepers in Somalia - a move strongly rejected by the Islamists, who say they can manage security in the country. Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991 when dictator Siad Barre was overthrown. |