Somali Government Signs Power Sharing Agreement with Moderate Islamists
Mar 18, 2010
The Somali government has formally signed a power sharing agreement with the moderate Ahlu Sunna Wal-Jamaaca militia on Monday in Addis Ababa. The agreement is part of an effort to form a coalition against the hard-line rebels fighting the weak Somali government, officials from both sides at the meeting said.
Somali government officials told Tiziano that the accord was formally approved, giving five members of Ahlu Sunna positions as ministers according to the agreement.
Ahlu Sunna Wal-Jamaaca is a moderate Sufi group that was hit hard by Al-Shabaab, who seized control of the central region Of Galgaduud.
Al-Shabaab imposed strict Islamic law in Somalia banning sports, bras, and forcing women to wear veils. They also conducted beheadings, floggings, executions and amputations that shocked the war-weary population, which has not had a functioning government since 1991 after dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted from power by clan militias who then began fighting each other.
Ahlu Sunna Wal-Jamaaca sources at the meeting said that after the accord the Ahlu Sunna Wal-Jamaaca militia will be merging with the government and will be starting an offensive against Al-Shabaab from areas it still controls in allied attacks with the government.
Ahlu Sunna Wal-Jamaaca is a well-known moderate Somali Sufi Islamist group. Their views on fighting differ from the Al-Shabaab militants' strict ideology. They took up arms after members of Al-Shabaab reportedly desecrated their late Sheikhs' graves and prevented them from performing their spiritual rites, according to Sheikh Abdullahi and Sheikh Abu Yusuf, the group's spokesman.
Last year, members of Al-Shabaab destroyed Sufi holy sites and religious claiming that their practices violate Islamic law.
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Tags:
Ahlu Sunna Wal-Jamaaca, Al-Shabaab Sheikh Abdullahi, Islam, MOGADISHU, Sheikh Abu Yusuf, Somali government, Somalia
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