Somalia: insurgency spreads, Sufis appeal for peace

by WW4 Report
Tue, 12/09/2008

Wahhabi al-Shabaab insurgents seized two districts in central Somalia without violence Dec. 7, including the stronghold of a Sufi group that traditionally abjures violence. Residents in Galgadud region reported that fighters aboard armed trucks peacefully entered the provincial capital Dhusamareb. "The local clan militias withdrew before they came," one resident told the independent Radio Garowe. Shabaab fighters also took control of Mataban district to the south, with clan militias similarly offering no resistance. The Shabaab faction already controls key regions in southern Somalia, including the port towns of Kismayo and Marka.

A spokesman for the Sufi group Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamee'a rejected reports their followers battled against Shabaab guerrillas in Galgadud region. Sheikh Abdulkadir Somow told reporters in Mogadishu: "The fighting in Guri El [in Galgadud] was between brothers, and Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamee'a was not involved." He called on Somalis to "stop fighting each other" and for Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Nur Adde to "resolve differences," while praising Djibouti for supporting the peace process. (Garowe Online, Puntland, Dec. 8)

Somali fighters destroying shrines

Somali fighters used hammers to destroy the graves of clerics and other prominent people in Kismayo
Al-Shabab, an armed group fighting transitional government and Ethiopian forces in Somalia, is desecrating religious shrines in the south of the country, Al Jazeera has learned.

The ancient graves of clerics and other prominent people are among holy sites being targeted by the armed group in the port city of Kismayo.

Al-Shabab took control of Somalia's third-largest city about four months ago and quickly announced it would not tolerate anything it deemed un-Islamic.

Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Adow said Kismayo's Roman Catholic church was torn down just days after they seized power through bloody fighting.

"The 60-year-old church had not been used for nearly 20 years and not a single Christian lives in the city - but that was not a good enough reason for the militias to spare the building, he said."

"They are planning to replace it with a mosque."

Graves targeted

The fighters then turned their hammers on graves, some of which contained the remains of followers of Sufi, a mystical form of Islam.

The sites have been revered for decades and are regularly visited by people paying homage to the dead, a practice al-Shabab has condemned as being akin to idolatry.