From T.O. to Mogadishu

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Today the Toronto Star dedicated several exclusive pages and photos about Soomaaliya, and Xamar, sending two of its reporters.

 

Front page ayeeba ku yaaleen, when I picked up, with large picture of sheekh la yiraahdo Aasbaro that used to live in Koronto.

 

 

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MOGADISHU—In this dusty, broken city, past the pockmarked walls bearing the scars of countless battles, through the guarded gates of the Al Furqan University and inside a sunny office, sits a former Toronto grocery store owner who is now a leader in an Islamic regime that has been likened to the Taliban.

 

Canadian Abdullahi Afrah, or Asparo as he’s known to most, left Toronto nine years ago to return to his birthplace to see an end to the years of civil war that has consumed the country since the government collapsed in 1991.

 

That journey has brought him to the Union of Islamic Courts, which swept into Mogadishu in June, defeating the reigning warlords with cunning military prowess.

 

Like the Taliban, they immediately invoked strict adherence to sharia law and have presided over public executions of criminals, floggings of women who fail to wear the hijab and censorship of the media.

 

And like the Taliban, their authoritarian rule has brought stability to a war-weary people. In a series of rare interviews, the Star spoke with the union’s leaders including Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the Islamists’ wily military commander and religious head credited for the takeover of this city and much of southern Somalia.

 

Aweys, nicknamed the “Old Fox†for his flaming red-dyed beard and shrewd nature, is regarded as one of the more radical members of the group’s leadership and is listed by both the United Nations and U.S. State Department as a “supporter of terrorism.â€

 

"Why don't they give us a chance?" Aweys asked during the interview at his home. "We need the choice of our own freedom and which kind of government should be stable for us. We need to decide for ourselves."

 

Mogadishu became an international pariah in 1993 when two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters were shot from the sky and dead American soldiers dragged through the streets. The world largely turned its back on the country during the years since, as thousands were killed in battles between warlords or by hunger and disease. Anarchy ruled and nowhere more so than this capital city, which is considered one of the most dangerous places on Earth.

 

Hundreds of thousands fled, seeking refuge in camps nearby or to countries thousands of kilometres away. It's estimated that more than 100,000 Somalis settled in Canada, creating the largest diaspora outside of Africa. Asparo was one of them.

 

Asparo's current standing has shocked those in Toronto who remember him.

 

"No one could believe it," said one Toronto Somali leader. "He was shy, quiet. We thought it couldn't be the same man."

 

Asparo is remembered in Toronto's Somali community for the variety of jobs he held in Canada — co-owner of a halal grocery store on Dundas St. W. or running a branch of a Somali money wire service — but not for his religious or political views.

 

The 54-year-old says he even once worked as a security supervisor for the Toronto Catholic school board before returning here in 1997.

 

But he now downplays this remarkable and strange journey from a seemingly mundane life in Canada to Islamic scholar and powerful leader here.

 

"I love adventure so it was not tough for me," he said, with a smile.

 

Now he's encouraging other Somali Canadians to follow.

 

"(Canadians) will make a good life if they come back, even Canadians with very few resources. We're very, very pleased to have them back. We need some expertise."

 

But it's an invitation that makes some Western security agencies wary.

 

Little is known about the Union of Islamic Courts, its members, and who's in control. A call this month for jihad against neighbouring Ethiopia led some to fear that a proclamation for war against the West will follow, attracting reinforcements from other war-torn areas.

 

It's the younger members of the organization, such as the elusive Adan Hashi Ayro, suspected by the United Nations of involvement in several unsolved murders, including the shooting death of a BBC producer here last year, who cause the most concern.

 

Aweys is a former associate of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden but denies his group has any aspirations other than bringing long-awaited peace to a divided nation.

 

"We don't care what they say, we don't have any links with Al Qaeda," Aweys said.

 

Before the Islamists organized themselves, a transitional federal government was formed in 2004 as a means to bring central control — something the country had lacked since the presidency of Gen. Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown 15 years ago.

 

Warlords representing the country's major tribal clans were appointed to cabinet positions and equally represented in an effort to pacify years of tribal warfare.

 

Here again, Somali Canadians returned home to assume positions of power.

 

But despite great fanfare, the transitional government now complains it didn't receive promised resources and the international expertise it needs to operate effectively.

 

"Things would have been different if the international community had acted in a timely fashion. They have been promising the last two years they would help with the institution-building, peace-building, with reconciliation efforts, with the establishment of the organization and disarmament. None of it has materialized," the transitional government's minister of information, Canadian Ali Jama, told the Star.

 

Etobicoke Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj said he believes the Canadian government overlooked an opportunity last year to help stabilize Somalia.

 

Wrzesnewskyj went on a fact-finding mission to Somalia last fall to meet with leaders of the transitional government, including President Abdullahi Yusuf, and was impressed with what they promised to achieve.

 

But they needed help and Wrzesnewskyj said he brought back an urgent appeal for a Canadian envoy to help cement the transitional government's role and work toward the goal of democratic elections slated for 2009.

 

Despite many meetings, memos and promises — Wrzesnewskyj said Somalia was not high on the former Liberal government's agenda, nor has it caught the attention now of Stephen Harper's Conservative government.

 

"The West's, including Canada's, attention was preoccupied with wars," said Wrzesnewskyj. "Unfortunately our lack of interest in Somalia when peace had a chance has now ironically given war a chance."

 

Earlier this year, warlords within the transitional government were reportedly given covert support from the United States in an effort to subdue the rising popularity of the Islamists. But the mission backfired and the warlords' brutal actions instead only brought the Islamists together as one organization and critically undermined the government.

 

In the ensuing power vacuum, as the transitional government worked to restore its reputation, the Islamists moved in and restored security.

 

Despite efforts to negotiate with the Islamists at peace talks to be held two weeks from now in Sudan, the government appears vulnerable.

 

Ethiopia has reportedly sent troops to its aid, only raising the ire of the Islamists and neighbouring Eritrea. Ethiopia denies troops are on the ground and Eritrea refutes claims that it has flown weapons into the airport here for the Islamists — but many fear the long-time rivals will now use Somalia to continue their war.

 

In Baidoa, the transitional government's stronghold 250 kilometres from here, President Yusuf narrowly escaped an assassination attempt that killed his brother and several others last month.

 

The suicide truck bombing was a first for Somalia and seemed to bolster claims of foreign terrorist involvement. Initially, Yusuf accused Al Qaeda of masterminding the blast but yesterday, during a meeting in Nairobi with Western and African diplomats, he pointed the finger at the Union of Islamic Courts and alleged Aweys ordered his assassination.

 

Wrzesnewskyj said he hopes that despite the recent violence there is still an opening for Canada and others to help in the peace talks.

 

Others are less optimistic any mediation will arrive in time.

 

Canadian Awad Ahmed Ashareh is now a member of parliament with the transitional government and while he believes there are some members of the Union of Islamic Courts who are open to negotiation, he concedes the power imbalance is frightening.

 

"There won't be disarmament without foreign support because in the Islamic courts, every clan, they have their own arms, headed by a sheikh. They transferred the arms of the warlords to the sheikhs of their clans," he said during a recent interview in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

 

Ashareh then stops the interview as he breaks into sobs, explaining that the stress of life in Somalia is sometimes overwhelming.

 

His shoulders shaking, wiping tears angrily away, he pauses to compose himself and apologize.

 

"I tell you, it's a horrible situation," he says.

 

"Nobody's helping Somalia."

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Photos and more.

[Warmoog]

Originally posted by Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar:

Aweys is a former associate of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden but denies his group has any aspirations other than bringing long-awaited peace to a divided nation.

Well, that's a first. I've come across countless articles comparing the Islamic Courts to the Taliban or making a broad (and still unproven) connection between them and al-Qaeda, but this is the first time I've seen someone draw a direct link, as Ms. Shephard does here, between Sheikh Aweys and bin Laden. Goodness. It's amazing what nonsense some reporters think they can slip into an article and get away with so long as the rest of their content sounds remotely believable.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Well, Western media has a tendency to use exaggeration and oversimplification and allegation laga fiirsan when it comes to us Muslims.

 

Kama walwalaan wax sue gareynaayo iyo wax kale, they know.

 

Now, sometimes it seems those following words means same and interchangeable:

 

Terrorist

Insurgent

Militant

Fundamentalist

Taliban

Alqaacida

Xamaas

Xisbullaah

 

Iyo kuwii lamid ah.

 

They are going to publish some more deitailed articles and photos tomorrow. Will see.

 

 

A crying Cashara ka walwalsan qaabda xun ee dalkiisa u socdo.

[Gabbal]

^Wax laga ooyo wee tahay dalka siduu ku socdo.

[Haashim]

Wax laga ooyo wee tahay dalka siduu ku socdo.

 

Horn, haddii wax laga ooyo ay tahay maxaad colaad cusub Kismayo uga hurinaysaa?

[NASSIR]

He is nearing his retirement age. May Allah reward him for the noble services he has done for his country.

 

Awad Ahmed Ashareh, a Canadian serving in Somalia’s transitional government, says he sometimes finds the realities of life in his homeland overwhelming. “I tell you, it’s a horrible situation,†he says.

 

 

I was taken aback when his daughter was murdered a little while ago in Toronto.

[NASSIR]

Some of the photos of the savagely devastated Mogadisho.

 

 

 

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Canadian Abdullahi Afrah, or Asparo as he's known to most, left Toronto nine years ago to return to his birthplace to see an end to the years of civil war that has consumed the country since the government collapsed in 1991.

It is sad to report that according to this following news report, our brother C/llaahi Afrax Aasbaro, who u geeriyooday halganka dalkeena xoreyntiisa. Eebba janaadiisa fardowso haka waraabiyo -- aamiin, aamiin. Inta kale xaqdaro lagu dilayna Eebboow u wada naxariisto, aamiin, aamiin.

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Clashes in Somalia kill 53, dozens wounded

 

 

MOGADISHU, July 2 (

Reuters

) - At least 53 people were killed in Somalia when Islamist insurgents clashed with Ethiopian troops and Ugandan peacekeepers in separate battles, a human rights group said on Wednesday.

 

The latest flare-up in the 18-month-old insurgency came a week before a U.N.-mediated ceasefire between an Islamist faction and the interim Somali government is to take effect.

 

The interim government and Ethiopia both declined comment on the clashes or any casualties.

 

Hardline Islamists have been waging an almost daily Iraq-style insurgency against the interim government and its Ethiopian backers since they were ousted from Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia in 2007.

 

"A total of 47 people died yesterday in central Somalia and in the capital Mogadishu last night,"

 

Ahmed Sudan, chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Peace and Human Rights organisation, told Reuters 47 people were killed on Tuesday and overnight in central Somalia and Mogadishu. He said six more had since died of their wounds.

 

Sudan said 11 civilians were killed when Islamists ambushed Ethiopian troops and Ugandan peacekeepers in the capital Mogadishu overnight, while dozens of others were wounded.

 

Another 36 people, including civilians and insurgents, were killed when rebels struck an Ethiopian troop convoy in Mataban, 410 km (255 miles) north of the Somali capital Mogadishu.

 

Among the dead on Tuesday were Moalim Farhan, commander of the militant group that attacked the convoy, and

Abdullahi Ali Farah, also known as Sheikh Asparo

, a spokesman for the insurgents told Reuters.

 

Aspro is deputy to hardline Islamist Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is on U.S. and U.N. lists of al Qaeda associates.

 

"We buried 27 Somalis," shopkeeper Ismail Olad told Reuters from Mataban. "We do not know the number of Ethiopians killed."

 

Somalia has been mired in anarchy, functioning without a central government since the fall of a dictator in 1991. Piracy has become an increasing problem in its waters.

 

A Somali ship was hijacked on Sunday near El-Ma'an sea port, close to Mogadishu.

 

"The ship, MV Solsea, was on its way to tow another Somali fishing vessel which developed mechanical problems near El-Ma'an when pirates seized it," Andrew Mwangura, director of the Kenyan Seafarers Assistance Programme, told Reuters.

 

Three Germans are still held captive by Somali pirates in a forest near the Gulf of Aden in the northern Puntland region, while five Somalis working for an Italian aid agency, who were seized on Monday, are still in captivity.

 

The U.N. children's agency UNICEF called on the world to act to avert famine in Somalia and other parts of the Horn of Africa. It said acute malnutrition rates in Somalia were now above 20 percent.

[Som@li]

what happen to the photos?

[Dhubad.]

Ilaahay ha unaxariisto dadkii halkaa ku shahiiday. Aamiin.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Canadian insurgent 'Asparo' killed in Somalia

 

A former Toronto resident who joined an Islamic insurgency in Mogadishu has been killed this week during violent clashes in wartorn Somalia.

 

Ethiopian troops killed Canadian Abdullahi Afrah, 56, late Tuesday during fighting in central Somalia, according to local media reports and various members of Toronto's Somali community.

 

Known widely as Asparo, he had left Toronto a decade ago to return to his birthplace in support of an Islamic group that fought to bring leadership to a country without a stable government since 1991.

 

He became a high-ranking member of the Union of Islamic Courts that held power in Mogadishu for six months in 2006. The group's strict adherence to sharia law – such as the public executions of criminals and flogging of women who failed to don the hijab – drew comparisons to the Taliban.

 

"It's unfortunate to see a former friend and colleague fall into the trap of the radicals, particularly for someone who lived in Canada and enjoyed the freedom and law and order," said Ahmed Yusuf, a Toronto social worker who used to play basketball with Afrah when he lived in the city in the 1990s.

 

Others say the killing will undermine efforts to bring peace as Afrah was among the moderate voices within the Islamic movement.

 

"It is not clear why Ethiopian troops went there at this particular time. ... This will reinforce the position of the hardliners who were arguing against any peace deal while the Ethiopians are inside Somalia," said journalist Sahal Abdulle, who returned to Toronto last year after surviving a bombing that killed Canadian journalist Ali Sharmarke.

 

"(Afrah) was one of the few intellectuals within his organization that had weight to move this peace process forward."

 

Afrah had initially immigrated to Canada when Somalia's government collapsed in 1991 and Toronto became home to thousands of Somali immigrants and refugees. He is best remembered here for running a halal grocery store on Dundas St. W. His friends say that, while he lived in Canada, he wasn't overly political or religious.

 

When the Union of Islamic Courts was in power in 2006, there was tentative support for Afrah's group since their authoritarian rule had brought stability. Somalis celebrated the Islamists' defeat of the rival warlords, whose fighting had left the country in shambles.

 

"There's a bright future if things go on like this. We can say people will be saved, resources may come back, international relations may improve, construction may happen, people's trust in each other may be renewed," Afrah said in an interview with the Toronto Star from Mogadishu in October 2006.

 

Two months later, Ethiopian troops moved into Mogadishu in support of the country's fledgling transitional federal government and crushed the Islamic group, sending its leaders fleeing.

 

Afrah had remained in hiding in Mogadishu with his family.

 

During a 2007 cellphone interview, Afrah had warned that Somalia would descend into chaos if the U.S.-backed Ethiopian troops wouldn't leave the country and vowed to have them removed by force if they refused.

 

Somalia has seen some of its worst fighting in the past 18 months, with almost daily suicide and bombing attacks that have made the country more unstable than Iraq or Afghanistan, according to some international observers.

 

But a key step toward peace was taken last month during a conference in Djibouti, where Somalia's transitional federal government signed a ceasefire agreement with the opposition group of moderate Islamists, the Alliance for Reliberation of Somalia.

 

But the June 9 agreement split the insurgents; radical leaders vowed to continue fighting and called Somalia's interim government a puppet regime for Ethiopia and the U.S.

 

Toronto Star

[Castro]

He died fighting for a good cause. May Allah forgive his sins and grant him Jannah.

[Som@li]

 

Eebe ha u naxariisto.