WIC December 21,
2001
Source
Al-Hayat News paper
December 10, 2001
Part
2
Part 3
Part 4
Who
Shot Down the “Black American Hawk”
In Mogadishu : Was it General/Aidid, Bin
Laden Or El Itihad El Islami??
The
grip around Osama Bin Laden whom Washington
believes to be perhaps still hiding in one of the
caves dug in the mountains surrounding Kandahar,
is currently being tightened. However, at the same
time Washington did not deny that its Naval Forces
are in the Indian Ocean monitoring the Somalian
coasts where it is probable for the leader of El
Qaeda to land as a refugee to Somalia.
Although
American officials stress on the fact that they
have no information whatsoever pointing out that
Bin Laden has left Afghanistan, the Prime Minister
of Ethiopia Malas Zinawi lately told Al Hayat
Newspaper that he does not rule out the arrival of
the leader of El Qaeda to Somalia. He adds
“Americans may say that perhaps El Qaeda
Organization was present there (in Somalia), but
we do not say perhaps because we know for sure
that such organization is present in this
country.”
The
name of Somalia as harbor for terrorism was not
missing from the statements of American and
British officials in numerous occasions since the
occurrence of the attacks on the United States on
September 11, 2001; sometimes mentioned associated
with Iraq or Sudan, some other times with Yemen
and Cuba and sometimes with South Philippines, but
it was always present in the minds of those
officials as it was present in media or
intelligence reports upon talking about terrorism,
about Bin Laden or the countries which one day
harbored his organization or cooperated with him.
However, Somalia was also mentioned as a probable
retreat for him, to which he may resort to hide
under the shelter of El Itihad El Islami (the
Islamic Union) movement in Somalia which name was
mentioned among his network in the American list,
if he was able to escape from Afghanistan.
It
is not strange for the name Somalia to be
mentioned on the list of small countries referred
to by president George Bush himself as a probable
target after ending the war against Afghanistan,
for the simple reason that Bin Laden, who had
never before confessed his responsibility for
killing Americans, declared that his followers did
so in Somalia. He explicitly mentioned, and
perhaps for the first time, in an interview
conducted with him by “Al Kodss Al Arabi” (the
Arab Jerusalem) newspaper in the mountains of
Afghanistan which was published on Nov. 27, 1996
that his forces fought the American forces in
Somalia in 1993.
He
said ““The only non-Somalian group that fought
the Americans in Mogadishu was the Arab Mojahedin
brothers who were in Afghanistan. The American
administration knew pretty well that we were
fighting them and declared that there were
non-Somalian extremist forces that were fighting.
They meant us. These were successful battles in
which we inflicted large casualties on the
Americans. We used to hunt them down inside
Mogadishu. The leader of the Somalian National
Alliance, General/Mohamed Fareh Aidid used to
declare that he was not responsible for such acts.
He was true, because the war in which we are
currently engaged with the Americans is not the
first one. We ask God to give us victory as He did
before....”.
Did
Bin Laden actually “hunt down Americans” in
Somalia? Was he the one responsible for killing
the 12 American servicemen after shooting down two
American Helicopters in Mogadishu city on Oct. 3,
1993? Was he also responsible for killing eight
American servicemen in August of the same year in
the city? Where was El Itihad El Islami (the
Islamic Union) movement then, what role did it
play?
I
recall when I was in the Somalian capital at that
time that two American “Black Hawk”
helicopters crashed in Hamarawen District, west of
Mogadishu, and with them the American might was
crashed; especially when the American president at
that time Bill Clinton declared that he will
withdraw his forces from Somalia within six
months. What increased the American frustration
that day was the appearance of the American
prisoner pilot Michael Dorant with his head down
on the television screens, imprisoned in one of
the headquarters of General/Aidid. This scene was
preceded by the pictures of the body of a pilot
from the victims of the two helicopters dragged
along the streets of the capital by Somalis, which
invoked the disgust of Americans and others around
the world.
General/Mohamed
Fareh Aidid did not declare his responsibility for
the incident at that time, and he also did not
accuse any other party. However, his son and
successor Eng/Hussein Aidid who was a corporal at
that time in the American Marines which landed in
Somalia within the framework of the operation
“Restore Hope” strongly denied, in two
interviews with him some days before in Addis
Ababa, the involvement of Bin Laden in the killing
of the American servicemen or the shooting down of
the two “Black Hawk” helicopters.
Who
is responsible then?
Hussein
Aidid answers saying “ It was something like a
spontaneous revolution in which a big number of
the capital’s population heavily armed with
weapons, took part. They belonged to the different
tribes. They fought the Americans after their
frequently attacks on civilians and killing
hundreds of them.”
I
asked him “Is not probable that professional
elements affiliated to Bin Laden or to El Itihad
El Islami movement were among these spontaneous
revolting crowds?”
He
answered after one minute as if trying to recall
something “I don’t believe that Bin Laden had
anything to do with the killing of the Americans
in spite of declaring his responsibility.....
perhaps he was aiming at publicity by declaring
his responsibility!.”
Hussein
Aidid was one of tens of Somalis belonging to
different tribes who witnessed this period whom I
met recently in Mogadishu, Addis Ababa and London.
They all strongly denied the involvement of Bin
Laden in military actions against Americans in
Somalia in 1993.
One
of them says “You were there during this period
and you know well that there are no secrets in
Mogadishu and this is a phenomenon among the
traditions of the Somalian community, and that
most population of the city must know the finest
details about the movements of any foreign person
or Somali who arrives from outside the city”.
My
speaker adds “We did nor hear nor see at this
period what points out to the presence of armed
Arab elements in Mogadishu, and the 18 thousand
American servicemen who landed in the city at that
time knew this. They had their own private
intelligence and their helicopters photographed
each street and corner in Mogadishu, besides
recruiting thousands of Somalis to gather
information; in addition to the spread of
thousands of foreign reporters in the city”.
The
Somali follows by saying “Based on all this, the
United States did not announce till date that Bin
Laden was involved in killing its servicemen in
1993; and during the last ten years more than 60
books were published about Somalia by foreign
reporters most of whom were in Mogadishu at that
time, and none of these books referred to Bin
Laden or to Al Qaeda organization”.
The
answers to many questions about this period are
still unclear, in spite of Bin Laden declaring the
responsibility of his network for killing the
Americans in 1993.
However,
one thing is certain and that is that the Islamic
Union movement was at the peak of its militant
activity at that time inside Somalia and across
its borders till the depth of neighboring Ethiopia
where it later executed explosion operations in
the capital Addis Ababa. The activity of the armed
movement increased after the final departure of
the Americans and all forces of the United Nations
from Somalia on March 25, 1995.
But
does all this activity proves any relationship
between the Somalian Islamic Union and Bin Laden
in one hand, and between these two organizations
and the attacks on Washington and New York on
Sept. 11, 2001 on the other hand?
Al
Hayat obtained documents from Mogadishu pointing
out to a relation that links the Union to Bin
Laden and hints to the probable locations that the
leader of El Qaeda may resort to in case of his
escape from Afghanistan. Besides these documents,
it will review the origin of the Islamic movements
and their configuration in Somalia, and their
extension to Ethiopia. It will also review the war
that was waged by the government of Addis Ababa on
terrorism since the assassination attempt on the
Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in the Ethiopian
capital in 1995 till date.
Here
is the first episode.
The
Configuration of Fundamentalist Islam in Somalia
..... Its Roots in Arab Countries!
The
first document which Al Hayat obtained in
Mogadishu talks about the rise of the
fundamentalist Islamic movement in Somalia,
especially El Itihad El Islami (Islamic Union)
movement, which the United States believes to
rotate around the orbit of Osama Bin Laden’s
network. President Bush on Sept. 24, 2001 declared
this movement to be among the list of 27
establishments, organizations and individuals
suspected to be associated with Bin Laden and his
organization El Qaeda, and ordered the freezing of
their funds.
The
document came under the title “Very Confidential
: The Extreme Somalian Islamic Union Group” and
was published on the same day in which Bush
declared freezing the funds; i.e. two weeks after
the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 in the United
States. The quarter which prepared this document
is an active Somalian party in Mogadishu concerned
with the details of the Somalian affairs. This
party is neither a friend of the Islamic Union
movement nor one of its sympathizers, but a fierce
political opponent which had and still has a big
role in deciding the future of the country.
The
document starts by trying to show the strong
relationship that connects between Somalian
Islamic movements, and in particular El Itihad
(Union) and the transitional government headed by
Abdy Kassem Salad Hassan. It also reviewed the
history of the appearance of the Islamic movements
in Somalia and their most significant leaders. It
focused on the Islamic Union (El Itihad El Islami)
movement, pointing out to its targets and the
positions of its bases. It also tried to establish
and confirm what is suspected by Washington to the
effect of a relation that links the activity of
this movement with El Qaeda organization.
The
First Part of the documents narrates the rise of
political fundamentalist Islam in Somalia and its
configuration. It relates its roots to a number of
Arab countries, especially some Gulf states and
Egypt. It says “The first penetrations of the
traditional Islamic school in Somalia started in
the mid sixties on the hands of the late famous
Somali religious scientist Sheikh/Nour Aly Elow
who graduated from one of the Gulf universities.
This Sheikh succeeded in influencing the Somali
security official at that time General/M.A.M. who
is still till date one of the sincere followers of
global Islamic fundamentalism and one of the big
activists among political fundamentalist Islamic
groups in Somalia.
Al
Azhar religious teaching institutions in Egypt and
Somalia participated by graduating a number of
religious scientists who were influenced by the
Egyptian “Islamic Brotherhood” movement. Among
the most distinguished Somalis who graduated from
Al Azhar Egyptian University was Sheikh/Mohamed
Moalam Hassan (he passed away last year) who laid
the basis for the modern Islamic movement in
Somalia.
Political
Islam grew inside this background during the reign
of president Mohamed Siad Berry the socialist, as
an entity opposing scientific socialism and the
spread of atheist principles in this period. Such
growth took the form of a secret movement that was
financed by charitable Islamic organizations in
Gulf states, and with the expansion of such
financing the number of followers of the
fundamentalist Islamic principle increased, among
whom the number of those
searching for an alternative political
option for the regime of Siad Berry doubled.
The
fundamentalist Islamic movement was able in this
period to recruit new followers therefor through
the opportunities made available by Gulf Islamic
academic and teaching institutions which political
philosophy included the principle of Islamic
renewal, blemished by inclinations opposing the
west in general and the United States in
particular.
The
continued civil war in Somalia since more than ten
years made the country a fertile soil for the
growth of Islamic movements from all directions.
These movements received support from Gulf Islamic
charitable organizations which exploited the
conditions of misery and extreme poverty lived by
the Somalis to recruit followers thereto. The
constitutional void which was experienced by the
country contributed to strengthening the ambitions
of Islamists who formed a network of strong
connections with global Islamic movements in
Europe, North America and Australia, and some
Asian countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and
Malaysia.
The
most distinguished fundamentalist Islamic
organizations consecutively according to their
significance are El Itihad El Islami (Islamic
Union) movement, El Eslah El Islami (Islamic
Reform) movement and El Tableegh El Islami
(Islamic Conveyance) movement.
The
owners of the document believe that the
fundamentalist Islamic movements in Somalia
emerged from the Moslem Brotherhood group in Arab
countries. They complement each other, each with a
specific role; for El Itihad El Islami movement
assumes the political leadership role, El Eslah
movement plays the role of diplomatic and cultural
work while El Tableegh assumes social survey and
gathering intelligence information. The last two
movements practice the operations of penetrating
and neutralizing the trend of Islamic traditional
school and the tolerant Islamic inclination which
are both largely accepted in Somalia and which
adopt the Shafe’i Sunni Doctrine.
The
document mentions the names of some prominent
Islamic figures, without denoting that such names
are associated with terrorist activities or
relations with El Qaeda organization.
Perhaps the most distinguished persons who were
active in the last ten years as mentioned by the
document are the
following
:
-
Sheikh (A.F) (member of the Somalian Parliament).
-
Dr/Ibrahim El Dessouky, the Secretary General of
the El
Eslah El Islami (Islamic Reform) movement.
-
Colonel/Hassan Dhaher Eweiss, the Commander
General of El
Itihad El Islami (Islamic Union) Forces.
-
Sheikh/(M.A) the Judicial System official in
Islamic Courts
(member of the Parliament)
-
Sheikh/(H.M.A.) Shari’a Courts official (member
of the
Parliament)
-
Sheikh/(A.D.), Shari’a Courts official in
Mogadishu.
-
Sheikh/(A.W.), member of the Parliament.
-
Mr/(H.T.) the military commander of the southern
sector of
the El Itihad El Islami
-
(A.H.W.) The political affairs official at the
southern
sector of the El Itihad El Islami
In
the same movements some businessmen appeared who
assumed leading positions in the Islamic movement
or sympathized with it, and used to finance them,
most significant of whom are the following :
-
(M.D.) a contractor with one of the international
relief
organizations (El Eslah Movement).
-
(H.Gh) a contractor with one of the international
relief
organizations (El Eslah Movement).
-
(M.A.) a contractor with one of the international
relief
organizations (El Eslah Movement).
-
Eng/(A.) a partner in one of the non-governmental
international relief organizations (El
Eslah Movement).
-
(S.A.) Director of (A.T.) Establishment working in
import
and export (El Eslah Movement).
-
(S.N.G.) a businessman working in import and
export (El
Eslah Movement).
-
(M.D.) a businessman working in import and export
(El Eslah
Movement).
-
(M.H.) an official in El Barakat Company which
Washington
ordered the freezing of its funds last
month for suspecting
its involvement with terrorist groups.
However the president
of the Company denied any relation to
terror organizations
and offered to put all the documents of his
company under
investigation in this matter.
-
(A.A.) owner of (A.S.) Company and Hotel (R.), (El
Itihad El
Islami)
-
Ahmed Nour Gamaaly, Chairman of the Board of
Directors of El
Barakat Company El Itihad El Islami). The
manager of the
Company’s branch in Mogadishu denied to
Al Hayat any
relationship to El Barakat with El Itihad
El Islami movement
or other organizations suspected of being
involved in
terrorist acts.
Targets
of El Itihad El Islami (Islamic Union)
:
The
document sees that the main targets of El Itihad
El Islami (Islamic Union) are to establish an
Islamic state in the African Horn similar to Iran
or Afghanistan (former Taliban regime) by means of
reaching power through armed work and
strengthening the ties of financial reliance with
global extreme Islamic organizations in order to
stabilize the base of its power and to block the
road for democratic or moderate forces and prevent
them from ruling the country.
It
considered that the Islamic Union aims at shaking
the stability of the countries neighboring Somalia
where organizations similar to its own are
present, such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and
Eritrea. The most important example for this are
the terrorist attacks which were executed against
the two embassies of the United States in Kenya
and Tanzania in 1998, after its forces succeeded
in forcing the United Nation’s second operation
in Somalia (UNOSOM-2) to withdraw its forces from
this country in 1995.
The
Relationship with ARTA Group (The Transitional
Government)
:
The
document then tries to link between the Islamic
Union movement and the current transitional
government headed by Abdy Kassem Salad Hassan and
says “After the ambitions of the fundamentalist
Islamic movements thrived to power and
guaranteed global financing for themselves,
and after their military power increased gradually
during the last ten years, they started to adopt a
new strategy in order to become an active and
decisive element in any political effort to settle
the crisis in Somalia as a temporary tactical step
prior to the full seizure of power. The
arrangement of holding the Somalian Reconciliation
Conference in Arta Resort in Djibouti which was
invited for by the Djibouti Government (mid 2000)
came as a golden opportunity for these
fundamentalist groups which participated
intensively in this conference beside unorganized
groups which attended in their capacity as
representatives of the civil community, but they
lacked legitimacy
and popular mandate”.
The
conference was a chance to eliminate the role of
political powers and to isolate the leaders of
armed Somalian factions and those who head
separatist administrative entities such as the
Republic of the Land of Somalia (north east, Bont
Land (the land of Bont in north western Somalia)
and Bakul Bay and Hayran Region. This was arranged
in advance with top and strict secrecy to ensure
the success of the conference and to annul the
legitimacy of factions’ leaders and leaders of
self-rule entities to make peace, and show them
through an organized media campaign to be
politically margined, and picture them as a group
of disabled warlords.
The
quarter which laid the document believes that El
Itihad El Islami obtained funds from a global
Islamic movement in order to ensure the success of
Arta Conference. The powers opposing the results
of the Conference directed the same accusation to
the conferees in the Djiboutian resort. This was
denied by members of the conference at that time.
In
this context, the document considers “the
limited financial aids which were obtained from
the United Nations development program and from
Italy insufficient to bring in hundreds of
participants for several months to Djibouti to
participate in a play that misled local and
international public opinion”.
It
added“..... under this financing cover a
legitimate government was born in Somalia backed
by global fundamentalist movements which had
adverse effects on the real reconciliation process
in the country. The economic role of the
fundamentalist Islamic groups in Somalia developed
during the last ten years through transferring
funds, printing currencies and their
counterfeiting; through communication
establishments, trading in fuel and cattle, and
importing goods and foods through Arab charitable
humanitarian funds. The Somalis in the countries
of emigration were the main target for the
recruitment campaigns which were executed by
fundamentalist Islamic groups, for the majority of
these Somali Islamists were among the asylum
applicants in Europe, the Middle East, United
States, Canada, Australia, Malaysia and
Pakistan”.
“....
accordingly the main element participating in the
Arta Conference was among those working in
fundamentalist Islamic groups and it came in the
form of delegations representing emigrant Somali
communities. About 60% of Arta Group and the
Somalian transitional government are from those
who sympathize with global fundamentalist Islamic
establishments who aim at transforming Somalia
into a starting point for their activities...”.
The
document believes that “.... Somalia is
considered an alternative emergency base for Bin
Laden and his close followers, where basis to
achieve this purpose were laid during the last 11
years comprising chaos and war until a strong
economic, political and military network was
established that is capable of executing secret
sabotage operations aiming at shaking the
stability of the region...”.
“......
Shari’a Courts and mosques were used to achieve
this political influence, and the fear of people
from the status of lack of security and law in
Somalian cities and rural areas was utilized to
achieve this purpose”.
The
document considered the current transitional
government which is supported by Islamic movements
has politically failed, especially that it was
only able to tighten its control on parts of the
capital Mogadishu and some regions south of the
country. The continuation of the government of
Salad Hussein in power in spite of its failure
“is attributed to the military and financial
support it receives from Islamic organizations in
Arab countries. This has assisted it in recruiting
former military personnel some of whom are from
the militias of tribes cooperating with extreme
Islamic organizations”.
“...
the seizure of Kismayo city which has a strategic
importance came to show clearly the existence of a
strong coalition between Arta group and the Union,
especially that Kismayo is a basic center for
receiving arms and trade shipments sent to extreme
Islamic businessmen who would like to exploit this
strategic port to achieve financial benefits, where
such businessmen dump the markets of east Africa
with products exported from outside South Africa
States Development Group (SADEC) making use of the
tax facilities in Somalia.”
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2
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Part 4
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