Somalia is witnessing a surge in the number of armed Islamic groups that openly oppose diplomatic efforts to resolve the Somali crisis. Among these groups is the Somali Islamic Front, which views armed struggle as the only option in the current period. Al-Jazeera's correspondent visited the front's camp west of the capital, Mogadishu, and provided the following report. Al-Jazeera correspondent Umar Muhammad] In Somalia, there is no talk of a warrior's rest, not with the ever-expanding phenomenon of training camps for fighters - a phenomenon that sends the message that Somalia is yet to set off on the path to recovery from armed conflicts. Camps used for training gunmen loyal to Islamic groups of varying names and similar goals are on the rise.
This right here is a camp run by the Somali Islamic Front, which was formed to expel Ethiopian forces and establish an Islamic system in Somalia, at least according to its leaders. Like other Islamic groups, the front has opted for the military option at present and feels that diplomacy is futile in a country that has turned into an arena for settling regional scores.
[Somali Islamic Front Leader Abdallah Ahmad Umar recording in a Somali dialect with voiceover Arabic interpretation] We were not members of the Alliance [for the Re-Liberation of Somalia] that eventually crumbled and members of which signed the Djibouti Agreement [with the Somali interim government]. Our position is that the agreement is a trick meant to divide the mujahidin and the resistance, and we do not view it as a solution. It is clear to me now that no solution will come of it.
[Muhammad] Hordes of the front's fighters are trained on different weapons in preparation for a battle that they say will only be defused when the reasons that they took up arms no longer stand.
[Uthman Adam, Somali Islamic Front fighter] We train in order to fight our enemies, the enemies of God, because they marched into our country, destroyed our homes, and orphaned our children. We will only stop this war when they leave our country, and we will expel them, God willing.
[Muhammad] Armed operations remain an inescapable option in the eyes of the front's field command because of conditions that it says forced their way onto the Somali scene after the Islamic Courts were defeated and Ethiopian forces entered Somalia towards the end of 2006.
[Abu-Salman Muhammad Ahmad, a field commander, in a Somali dialect with voiceover Arabic interpretation] The reason this camp was set up is to expel the invaders from our country, this enemy that destroys our property and homeland and rapes our women. As long as we live, our objective will be to expel them.
[Muhammad] One attempt after the other is being made to find a solution to the Somali crisis, and as the sound of gunfire rings louder, the picture remains the same - Somalia is a fragmented country that remains the scene of conflicts between various parties. The rise in armed Islamic groups opposed to diplomatic movements in Somalia is perhaps a sign that the armed conflict there is not in its final acts, and that the sound of gunfire will drown all other sounds.
Source: Al-Jazeera TV, Doha, in Arabic 0610 gmt 12 Oct 08
BBC Mon AF1 AfPol aa/mst
This right here is a camp run by the Somali Islamic Front, which was formed to expel Ethiopian forces and establish an Islamic system in Somalia, at least according to its leaders. Like other Islamic groups, the front has opted for the military option at present and feels that diplomacy is futile in a country that has turned into an arena for settling regional scores.
[Somali Islamic Front Leader Abdallah Ahmad Umar recording in a Somali dialect with voiceover Arabic interpretation] We were not members of the Alliance [for the Re-Liberation of Somalia] that eventually crumbled and members of which signed the Djibouti Agreement [with the Somali interim government]. Our position is that the agreement is a trick meant to divide the mujahidin and the resistance, and we do not view it as a solution. It is clear to me now that no solution will come of it.
[Muhammad] Hordes of the front's fighters are trained on different weapons in preparation for a battle that they say will only be defused when the reasons that they took up arms no longer stand.
[Uthman Adam, Somali Islamic Front fighter] We train in order to fight our enemies, the enemies of God, because they marched into our country, destroyed our homes, and orphaned our children. We will only stop this war when they leave our country, and we will expel them, God willing.
[Muhammad] Armed operations remain an inescapable option in the eyes of the front's field command because of conditions that it says forced their way onto the Somali scene after the Islamic Courts were defeated and Ethiopian forces entered Somalia towards the end of 2006.
[Abu-Salman Muhammad Ahmad, a field commander, in a Somali dialect with voiceover Arabic interpretation] The reason this camp was set up is to expel the invaders from our country, this enemy that destroys our property and homeland and rapes our women. As long as we live, our objective will be to expel them.
[Muhammad] One attempt after the other is being made to find a solution to the Somali crisis, and as the sound of gunfire rings louder, the picture remains the same - Somalia is a fragmented country that remains the scene of conflicts between various parties. The rise in armed Islamic groups opposed to diplomatic movements in Somalia is perhaps a sign that the armed conflict there is not in its final acts, and that the sound of gunfire will drown all other sounds.
Source: Al-Jazeera TV, Doha, in Arabic 0610 gmt 12 Oct 08
BBC Mon AF1 AfPol aa/mst
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