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By Barry Moody and Barry Malone
Monday, February 02, 2009
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Somalia's newly elected president Sheikh Sharif Ahmed (2nd R) walks with his bodyguards upon his arrival at the 12th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa February 1, 2009. REUTERS/Antony Njuguna
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ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - African leaders on Monday feted Somalia's new moderate Islamist president at a summit in Ethiopia, which chased him from power two years ago.
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed enjoyed a standing ovation from African Union leaders in Addis Ababa, two days after he was elected to lead the Horn of Africa nation in a parliamentary vote.
But in Somalia, militant Islamists declared jihad against Ahmed and mocked his trip to his former enemy, rallying their supporters for war against the new government.
Ahmed headed a sharia courts movement that brought some stability to Mogadishu and most of south Somalia in 2006, before Washington's main regional ally Ethiopia invaded to oust them.
Washington accused hardline members of the courts movement of having links with al Qaeda.
Ethiopia's army withdrew last month, clearing the way for Ahmed's election and raising tentative hopes for peace in the anarchic nation, torn by conflict for 18 years.
AU Commission chairman Jean Ping, opening the second day of the annual African Union summit, introduced Ahmed, saying "some shades of hope have appeared in Somalia". Ahmed smiled, waved and bowed in response to the applause.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also welcomed Ahmed.
"All of us can take pleasure in the progress towards a peaceful settlement in Somalia," he said in his speech. "I count on your leadership and wise and visionary leadership."
MILITANT THREAT
Elected in a U.N.-brokered peace process in neighbouring Djibouti, Ahmed, 42, will fly to Mogadishu straight after the summit to put together a unity government and face the threat of militant Islamist insurgents led by the al Shabaab group, who control swathes of southern Somalia.
"We shall fight the so-called government of Sharif in every place!" Sheikh Hayakalah, who heads the Islamic court in the Shabaab-held port of Kismayu, told a crowd on Sunday.
Al Shabaab grew out of the armed wing of the sharia courts movement but later split with Ahmed.
"He is now with our number one enemy, Ethiopia, and calling for more support from non-believers. Imagine how Sharif, who was once our leader, deceived us and Islam," Hayakalah said.
The al Shabaab spokesman for Kismayu, Sheikh Hassan Yacqub, also attacked the new president.
"Sharif Ahmed is a traitor and we should fight him. Help us with your sons, weapons and wealth, so that we uproot this irreligious government of Sharif before it gets strong."
While Sharif has widespread support among many factions in Somalia, key to his success will be neutralising al Shabaab by defeating or isolating them or even bringing them into an alliance.
In Somalia there are rumours of splits within al Shabaab. Locals also say its popular support has waned due to hardline practices like prohibitions on watching foreign films, and executions and other public punishments.
Since an insurgency began at the start of 2007, some 17,400 Somali civilians have died in fighting, at least a million people have fled from Mogadishu, and a third of the population needs food aid in one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Source: Reuters, Feb 02, 2009