Somali Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys has called for a peaceful interior spiritual struggle that will move the hearts of Ethiopian troops to leave Somalia. What's that? That's not what he means by "jihad"? He wants Somalis to make war on Ethiopia? What are you, some kind of Islamophobe?
And yes, he did say "jihad," translated here by AP as "holy war" without explanation.
"Somali militant urges holy war on Ethiopia," from AP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
BAIDOA, Somalia - Somalia's top Islamic leader called Friday for a holy war against Ethiopia to drive out troops the largely Christian nation sent to protect the internationally backed Somali government.The radical Islamic forces control more of Somalia than the government, and have made clear they consider themselves the legitimate authority in the country.
Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, in an angry radio broadcast, said Ethiopia deployed troops to the government's base in Baidoa, 150 miles northwest of Mogadishu, to bolster what he described as a puppet regime.
He said President Abdullahi Yusuf, his longtime rival, has "been a servant of Ethiopia for a long time."
"I am calling on the Somali people to wage a holy war against Ethiopians in Baidoa," said Aweys, who is accused by the U.S. government of ties to al-Qaida. "They came to protect a government which they set up to advance their interests."
"We must defend our sovereignty," he declared on Radio Shabelle.
The Islamic group organized anti-Ethiopia demonstrations Friday in the capital, Mogadishu, and militiamen shot dead two people who joined a daring counter-demonstration.
Residents of Baidoa reported seeing hundreds of Ethiopian troops, in uniform and in marked armored vehicles, entering the city on Thursday and taking up positions around President Yusuf's compound....
The United States has accused the Supreme Islamic Courts Council of links to al-Qaida that include sheltering suspects in the deadly 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In a recent Internet posting, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden urged Somalis to support the militants and warned nations not to send troops here.
The Islamic militia has installed strict religious courts, sparking fears it will become a Taliban-style regime.
This is actually good news. The warlords are no better than the jihadi spouting clerics but they are more tribal based and not linked to al qaida. If these clerics do manage to convince somalis to fight Ethiopia, they will get their collective butts handed to them. They real advantage is the warlords will rally and open a second front and the jihadi spouting clerics will find their power bases are taking a one way trip to join mohammad and the other dead muslims. I don’t hold any real hope for democracy in somalia but the more muslims killed in this conflict the less they have to spread elsewhere. In a perfect world the somalis would wake up and kick out both the warlords and the jihadis but .. We don’t live in that world. So which evil is best, crazed jihadi follower of islam or muslim warlord? This is just another example of muslims wanting to do violence, it matters little if the targets are Ethiopians or fellow muslims. I have said it for years the biggest killers of muslims world wide are other muslims. I have seen both somali fighters and the Ethiopian military in action, don’t make any bets for somalia’s success.
Ethiopia's religious make-up according to the CIA World Fact Book:
Muslim 45%-50%
Ethiopian Orthodox 35%-40%
animist 12%
other 3%-8%
Muslims are half the population, and that will mean trouble if Ethiopia continues to confront Somalia.
In my opinion, countries like Ethiopia are the only hope for the civilized world. It is time that other nations follow Ethiopia's example and eliminate the regimes that sponsor Muslim terrorists before these terrorists can carry out their gruesom plans.
Roberto little Nazi Jew, to us Somalis OSama bin Laden is fabricated in Langley,his tapes custom tailor to suite Americas dislike of the President of Somalia, we know Bush hates Yusuf,
and the Bush asked Langley ( CIA) to produce another tape of OSL that good for nothing arab crap. Bush hates the president of Somali and promotes the breaking of Somalia into little pieces, and Yusuf is for the Unity of Somalia,
that is why we are seeing the "Jihadist" showing up in Somalia all of sudden, the Jihadist and the warlords war causins, they remind me of Afghanistant, after all was not Taliban Langley creation? have the world gone mad and forgot that little tid bit of INfo? that the Taliban and the Warlords in Afghanistant were CIA creation to fight the USSR?
take your bloody hands off Somalia, Ethiopia has no right to cross into Somalia, it already has our land. Ethiopia is also 60% Muslim, so what are you going to do, cry that Somalia is invading the infidel land or it this another ploy to exterminate the Negros of this world one Negro at time, just like you sadist are exterminating Muslims one muslim at a time, the African is being killed one African at time, from Liberia, to Senegal, to Congo, to Sudan,to Somalia,to Eritria, to Ethiopia, to Rwanda, Nigiria etc. We Somalis must be the wet dreams of the Racist who not only are wiping the Muslim but also wiping the Africans, caging the African into little cages. It did not escape our attention when the USA introduce 7 drug addicted black faces, whom one can tell were cull from Prison as “ terrorist” Please! It does not take genius to know that the reason these seven African American were brought in front of the world is to tell the Americans and the world, look TERROR ALSO HAS BLACK FACE, just like when the US backed warlords were running around hijacking the boats of Somalia coast, and US was sending the “Great White Fleat” to defends the “Jihadist” from hijacking boats of the waters of Somalia, great advertisement for the ‘WAR ON TERROR” great advertisement to say world look the Somalis are terrorist, turn your attention to Somalia, because that is where our sadistic weapons will be turning soon to Somalia. Freeing the soul of a Somali from its body, should we perhaps vote “democratically” to one of your puppets more suited your taste, and will you be bring a purple ink to show that we voted to your liking, which says a purple finger or purple body your choice nigger/ rag head? What shame and sham this war on terror turn out to be, disgusting!
FYI the so call Muslim courts/Islamic Courter or whatever name they call themselves are nothing but the warlords who were raping our daughter change shirts, and now call themselves another name and are still holding Mogadishu hostage, so are we all Jihadist? Are we the same as the men who raped us in the Mosques, or in front of our father? You are sadistic people.
You are forgetting that we are AFRICAN before we are Muslim; we have the same problem that the rest of AFRICA shares with us, whether that African is Christian, or Muslim. We don’t produce weapons neither do we produce the bullets that are chasing us out of our homes. Each nation is suffering from a unique death squats prim to the teeth with western made weapons who chase the African out of her house, and cage her and her child into little cages and call them refugee. Cages were they get rape, contract AIDS, were they are handed drugs and alcohol, even the poor Kalahari men and women are not excempt of this cruelty, reminds me of the situation the Native American are living in their native land of USA!
Having said that who is Terrorist I wonder?