MOGADISHU, 26 March 2005 — An Islamic leader on a US terrorist list threatened holy war if the African Union sends peacekeepers to Somalia in an attempt to install a government currently in exile in neighboring Kenya.
Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, a former Somali army colonel suspected of having ties with Al-Qaeda, told reporters yesterday that allowing foreign troops into Somalia was contrary to Islamic teachings. He said it would be the religious duty of all Somalis to fight any peacekeeping force.
Clan fighters might find God’s forgiveness for helping plunge Somalia into chaos if they cleansed “themselves with the blood of the foreign invaders,” Aweys said.
The normally reclusive Aweys said at a news conference in Mogadishu that he did not reject the new government, led by his longtime rival President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, but said if it was truly legitimate, it would not need foreign troops’ protection.
“Somalia needs a government for the restoration of the rule of law,” he said. “But that does not mean Somalia needs foreigners to restore them their dignity.”
