Sharia Law under the UIC

Hardline elements of the UIC have made major impingements on civil liberties, public expression and entertainment already, although we must be careful – the UIC’s federalist-clan structure makes it hard to draw conclusions from examples. They have shut down groups watching soccer matches. They have shut down theaters showing supposedly ‘pornographic’ movies – and it is not clear what counts as ‘pornographic’. There have been reports of strict dress code enforcement on women. Elopements have been banned. The UIC also banned khat, a popular stimulant, leading to protests. The US has accused the UIC of planning to establish a Taliban-like state; this has been denied and is unlikely given the existing Somali culture, federalist structure and no significant Arab inflow as occurred in Afghanistan. But we should remember that the UIC, whatever its federalist blessings, is a theocratic movement. Other than Aweys, the main leader in the UIC is Sheikh Sharif Skeikh Ahmed. Ahmed is the more moderate of the two: he is chairman of the UIC, a law graduate and former high school teacher. He heads the eight-member executive committee and is the public face of the UIC.

Aweys, al-Itihaad al-Islamiya and Osama bin Laden

In the 1990s Aweys headed an Islamist group, al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, which received funds from Osama bin Laden, but also had elements of a Somali social movement. According to US intelligence, al-Itihaad al-Islamiya cooperated with the al-Qaeda members who carried out the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Like the dictator Muhammad Siad Barre before him, Aweys calls for a greater Somalia. Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, on the other hand, has denied any great desire for land, professing that the courts are no threat and desire only order.

Power consolidation (2006-present)

As the UIC has taken further control of the country, it has imposed additional elements of governmental power. It has begun collecting taxes in the markets. It has sent its ‘foreign minister’ to Yemen. In November, talks between the TFG and UIC broke down, and the UIC has since moved to consolidate their position and move towards Baidoa. By December 4 Baidoa was effectively encircled. On December 12 the UIC gave Ethiopian forces a week to leave the country or face attack. Troops on both sides dug in around Baidoa on December 13, and an EU diplomatic effort to avert war began, though with no results yet. Ethiopian troops have backed up TFG fighters in recent battles, and remained stationed in Baidoa in the city’s defense. On December 19 the UIC-imposed deadline expired, and heavy fighting continues around Baidoa. On December 24 Ethiopian warplanes began bombing UIC targets.

This comes at a time when over 400,000 people in Somalia are affected by flooding, with up to 900,000 at risk if the flooding worsens.

Foreign involvement

The so-called Somali civil war cannot be regarded as entirely an internal affair. Several countries have provided support to the factions in the conflict. Somalia is subject to an arms embargo, so any such armed intervention, military aid or provision of arms and material is illegal under international law.

Ethiopia

Perhaps the largest involvement is that of Somalia’s western neighbor Ethiopia. Somalia and Ethiopia have a long history of violence, dating back at least to the 1977 Ogaden war. There is substantial evidence of several Ethiopian government interventions in Somalia in recent years. Since the rise of the UIC, the main interest of largely Christian Ethiopia has been to prevent the establishment of an Islamic state on its border, and to support the TFG, which is led by a long-time Ethiopian ally. According to Reuters, a confidential UN report estimated 6,000-8,000 Ethiopian troops were in Somalia in early November. The buildup has continued since then, and Reuters quotes witnesses and security experts estimating 10,000 Ethiopian soldiers presently in the country. The UIC has repeatedly declared jihad on Ethiopia for supporting the TFG; Ethiopia has repeatedly denounced the UIC as a threat.^[7]

It seems clear from multiple confirmed reports that, despite Ethiopian denials, there are tens of thousands of Ethiopian troops in Somalia at present, mainly around Baidoa, defending the TFG. Since the TFG is so militarily weak, it is effectively dependent on Ethiopia, appearing as little more than an Ethiopian puppet.

On December 12, the UIC issued an ultimatum to Ethiopian forces in Baidoa to leave; that ultimatum expired on December 19, and heavy fighting continues, including aerial bombing by Ethiopian forces.

The United States

The US has also been involved. Its main interest now, like Ethiopia, is against any Iran-style Islamist regime. As a result, in an extraordinary act of cynicism, the US came to support some of the same warlords who were US enemies in 1993, demonized in ‘Black Hawk Down’. The CIA funded an alliance of warlords, the ‘Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism’, in their battle against the UIC for control of Mogadishu. Not only did this strategy fail militarily when the UIC took control in June, it also enhanced the legitimacy of the UIC. The US has repeatedly claimed that terrorists in Somalia are planning suicide attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia, and repeatedly denounced the UIC as harboring al-Qaeda terrorists. In particular, it has accused Aweys of connections to al-Qaeda, presumably referring to his previous involvement with al-Itihaad al-Islamiya. US rhetoric appears inflated, for example, the US assistant secretary of state on December 15:

The Council of Islamic Courts is now controlled by al-Qaeda cell individuals, East Africa al-Qaeda cell individuals. The top layer of the court are extremists. They are terrorists. They are killing nuns, they have killed children and they are calling for a jihad.

Such denunciation seems contradicted by the organization of the UIC, as discussed previously, and achieves obvious political and propaganda goals. The ‘killing nuns’ accusation apparently refers to the murder of a nun outside a Mogadishu hospital on September 17, swiftly condemned by the UIC, with two arrests made shortly afterwards. Thus the US seems to conflate the UIC with extremist elements that the UIC itself publicly denounces and pursues – tarring them with the same brush, a strategy which will go unquestioned by a servile mainstream media, and which succeeds in demonizing the UIC, guilt achieved by association.