Those rogue Methodist clerics are stirring up their flocks to warfare again. What’s that? A Muslim cleric, who despite his close study of Islam doesn’t seem to realize that the Qur’an counsels only peace and nonviolence? What are you, some kind of Islamophobe?
From AP, with thanks to Warren:
MOGADISHU, Somalia – A leading Islamic cleric called on Somalis to prepare to fight Ethiopian troops believed to have entered into Somalia, where Islamic militias now control a significant portion of the country.
“Ethiopians have been illegally crossing our border since earlier last month and now they are in some parts of our territory but, God willing, they will regret,” Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said Sunday. He urged Somalis to come together and confront Ethiopia, describing the country as “the enemy number one of the Somali people.”
Several residents in the border town of Beled-Hawo said about 100 troops from Ethiopia had crossed into their town Saturday. Ahmed, who chairs the executive council of the Islamists who with their allies control most of southern Somalia, said Ethiopian troops had also in recent weeks entered Somalia’s southwestern region of Gedo and the central region of Hiraan.
Ethiopia has not responded to the allegations, but it has denied in the past sending troops into Somalia.
The president of Somalia’s secular interim government, Abdullahi Yusuf, is allied with Ethiopia and has asked for its support. Ethiopia has intervened in Somalia in the past to prevent Islamic extremists from taking power.