Alliance Formed in Opposition to Somalian Government

[rudy-Diiriye]

Christopher Mitchell '09

Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: World

 

I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself." - Nelson Mandela

 

 

Conflict in the African nation of Somalia perpetuates itself under yet another new name - The Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS).

 

This new organization, which just named its chairman last Friday, is the product of a week-long conference in the country of Eritrea, in which about 400 Islamists and other opposition leaders firmly cement their alliance in the opposition of the Ethiopian-backed transitional government.

 

While making clear, non-specific threats of military action, the group maintained the possibility for diplomacy, but only on the condition that their initial demands are met.

 

"The ARS will not enter into any talks with the so-called Transitional Federal Government before a complete withdrawal of the Ethiopian occupation army," an official statement of the ARS read, according to Yahoo News.

 

The statement refers to the continuing presence of Ethiopian forces in Somalia that remain since they had joined the internal conflict in December 2006, helping to oust the Islamic regime, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), from the country's capital of Mogadishu.

 

Ethiopia has been guarding its borders against Somali factions since the ****** War of 1977-1978.

 

After the War, Somali nationalists remained embittered that the Somali ethnic groups in the ****** province had remained under Ethiopian rule.

 

Viewing the existing presence of Ethiopian troops as nothing other than foreign occupation, the ARS has given Ethiopia two weeks to withdraw.

 

Similar threats have also been made to the peacekeeping African Union Force also stationed in Somalia, made up of about 1,600 Ugandan soldiers.

 

With violence already prevalent inside Mogadishu, however, the Somali government is not taking such heavy-handedness seriously mainly because the government does not believe more violence can actually make an impact.

 

We don't see them as a threat since they cannot add to or reduce to the explosions already taking place in Mogadishu," said Musse Kulow, spokesman of the Somali prime minister to Al Jazeera. He even claims that those currently carrying out the attacks are choosing not to associate themselves with the ARS.

 

Yet even with instability and guerrilla warfare ultimately being the norm in the capital, Kulow says that the Somali government supports the formation of independent political parties as a vehicle for meaningful participation.

 

"But we will never accept a terrorist alliance that wants to use violence to gain any progress," Kulow says.

 

The United States government agrees, as one top official declared on Saturday, that the country of Eritrea could be added to the list of countries that are officially recognized to harbor terrorists, according to The International Herald Tribune.

 

This observation was based on the presence of the prominent Islamic Court member Hassan Aweys at the conference - a man who had only recently come out of hiding after being added to the UN's list of terrorist suspects.

 

Like other members of the ICU, however, Aweys asserts that he is nothing other than a patriotic nationalist.

 

"The U.S. cannot present any concrete evidence for its unfounded accusations. The only problem is the interference of the United States and its servants, namely the Ethiopian leaders," Aweys told Profile, the Eritrea newspaper.

 

Aweys criticized the United States for trying to attribute the general rebellion to any one group or leader, saying that the resistance is being carried out by "all Somalis."

 

With the conflict's history riddled with old grudges and splintering factions, such words ring true in a country that has yet to see an end to its devastating interregnum. Somalia has not seen a stable government since 1991.