From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Feb 10 2009 - 10:43:00 EST
Somali Clerics Council endorses president
Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:33:21 GMT
A Somali cleric has urged his country to fully support the newly-elected
president, while calling for an end to attacks on foreign troops.
"President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed is a pure Muslim man. We ask all the
people of Somalia, men, women and even children to support our new leader,"
The chairman of the Somali Clerics Council, Sheikh Nur Barood Gurhan, said
in a statement on Monday.
The country's Islamic Council welcomes and fully supports the newly-elected
president, who has promised to bring the nation under Islamic law, Gurhan
said, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The top cleric also condemned the recent attacks on AMISOM soldiers in the
chaotic Horn of Africa nation and called on all armed groups to lay down
their weapons and join the new government.
"Before Sheik Sharif's election you were all fighting for an Islamic leader,
but now you have no excuse," the Clerics Council chief said.
He also accused the rebels of killing innocent civilians and causing further
instability in the war-wracked country.
"If you die during battle, you die as rebels and not as martyrs," Gurhan
said.
Sheik Sharif, a cleric and former opposition leader was elected as Somali's
new president on January 31 by lawmakers who had gathered in Djibouti, after
a number of their fellow lawmakers were targeted in Baidoa - the seat of the
Somali parliament.
The president is expected to name a new prime minister in the coming days
and the new premier will in turn form a Government of National Unity.
Roadside blasts injure AMISOM troops
Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:15:33 GMT
Massive explosions rock Mogadishu as a call by Somalia's newly-elected
president is issued for the displaced to return to their homes.
The Somali capital was the scene of a new wave of roadside blasts on
Tuesday, with explosions heard inside and outside Mogadishu.
An explosive device -- apparently targeting the Ugandan forces for the
African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) -- blew up near
Adan Adde, leaving some five soldiers injured, a Press TV correspondent
reported from Somalia.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which witnesses say
caused civilian casualties as well.
The attack was not followed by the customary random backfire from the AMISOM
troops, which people attributed to President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed's
call for AMISOM forces to avoid such responses in the event that they are
attacked by insurgents.
Hundreds of Somali families, who had abandoned their homes in search of a
safe zone, have been moving back after Sheikh Ahmed urged the displaced to
return to their living places.
Thousands of civilians in the Horn of Africa nation fled their towns for
fear of being trapped by heavy mortar and gun fire exchange between former
president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed's soldiers and armed rebels.
The western-backed Yusuf, 74, stepped down on December 29 as politicians
convened in Djibouti. On January 31, Sheikh Ahmed, a cleric and the former
leader of the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS),
was elected by Somali lawmakers and was sworn in a day later.
Sheikh Ahmed has vowed to form an inclusive government and to hold
negotiations with armed opposition groups to encourage them to join a
UN-sponsored reconciliation effort.
The country's Islamic Council has given its full support to the president,
urging all armed groups to lay down their weapons and join the new
government -- which has vowed to bring the nation under Islamic rule.
The president is expected to name a new prime minister in the coming days
and a new premier who is expected to form a national unity government.
Somali fighters lay down arms
Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:58:16 GMT
Al-Shabaab fighters have quit opposition to Somalia's transitional
government, after the country's Clerics Council endorsed the new president.
On Monday, President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed held a reconciliation ceremony
attended by the representatives of the fighters, governmental and military
officials and thousands of Somali public, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The event, held in the police center Comando Polizia south of the capital,
Mogadishu, witnessed the gunmen and the Somali military officials vowing to
abandon hostilities towards each other.
The development came after the chairman of the Somali Clerics Council,
Sheikh Nur Barood Gurhan, expressed the full support for Sheik Ahmed.
Sheikh Abdi Qadir Ali Omar, the head of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC),
al-Shabaab's political front, denounced violence and pledged allegiance to
Sheikh Ahmed during the ceremony.
The president called on both sides to "exchange true forgiveness and forget
the past."
Sheik Sharif, a cleric and former opposition leader was elected as Somali's
new president on January 31 by lawmakers who had gathered in Djibouti, after
a number of their fellow lawmakers were targeted in Baidoa - the seat of the
Somali parliament.
http://www.presstv.com/photo/20090209/naderian20090209192603500.jpg
President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed (R)
Accusing the former Somali leadership, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, of Western
loyalties, the UIC staged a long-standing armed resistance against the
country's Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
Analysts say the appointment of Sheikh Ahmed is likely to restore calm in
the war-torn country.
Sheikh Ahmed also demanded that preparations be made for the displaced
people to return to their residences. He has also called for departure of
all foreign troops from Somalia, the Chairman of Traditional Council of the
leader's clan Mohamed Hassan Haad said earlier in the day.
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