Islamist militias and government forces in Somalia are at loggerheads and as the fighting goes fiercer, civil war seems inevitable. Clashes have ignited the region from last two days, currently centered on Maddoy, 25 miles south of Somalia’s temporary capital Baidoa. According to Salad Ali Jelle, the government’s Deputy Defence Minister, ‘war could start any minute because we are so close to each other’.

President Abdullahi Yusuf’s feeble intermediary government appears powerless in front of the joint forces of the Islamist militiamen and the Somali Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC). SCIC has already occupied most of the surrounding towns and villages of Baidoa.

Courts: Now a major political power in Somalia

President Abdullahi’s regime has literally failed to win faith of the Somalis since its inception two years back. Apparently, Courts are ruling the country now with full control over the capital, Mogadishu. Courts played a key role in ending 15 years of bedlam fueled by warlords and emerged as main rulers dominating the country’s jurisdiction and government. The SCIC aims to establish a stable Islamic state, whereas, hardliners demand reunification of ‘greater Somalia’ including parts of Kenya and Ethiopia. The whole drama got a big boost after United Nations Security Council passed a resolution authorizing the deployment of African peacekeeping troops to protect the government.

Both parties are not ready for any peace talks, whatsoever, though a scheduled effort is supposed to resume on Friday in Khartoum, Sudan. However, Ethiopia, which is backing the government, has already deployed its 6,000 troops in Somalia and now perhaps, there is no looking back - the war is here. Moreover, with neighbor Eritrea backing the Courts, now it seems to be too late.

Jihad fuelled by US intervention

The SCIC has links with al-Qaeda and is, in fact, modeled on the Taliban, having full control over the nation. The US’s failed effort, early this year, to support Mogadishu warlords and rout the SCIC, has also added fuel to the fire. The US intervention has played a major role in worsening the situation and triggering the war. The SCIC is totally against, and is ready to fight any foreign troops to remove the Ethiopians by guerrilla tactics. The anarchy in the impoverished country has reached its zenith.

From last 16 years Somalia is surviving on foreign aid, is currently on the verge of another famine and now the proxy war is ready to gobble the rest. The failed state, on high with the rule of warlords and different clans, was not ready to welcome foreigners, whom they term as crusaders who want to Christianize them, and is still not ready to go ahead with it.

Aftermath

The Horn of Africa is in a real mess. The bloody conflict is likely to spread to the neighboring countries too, especially Kenya. The major oil routes might too get a setback. A terrorist Somalia is on its way to give rise to a new Taliban, loads of bloodshed is in the offing. The only option left is to persuade Islamists to talk; however, they are not mentally prepared to do so with lots of gunpowder in their pockets.

Get more insight of the whole situation here.

Via: Guardian