Union of Islamic Courts

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Flag of the Union of Islamic Courts

The Union of Islamic Courts ( Arabic اتحاد المحاكم الإسلامية Ittihād al-mahākim al-islāmiyya , DMG Ittiḥād al-maḥākim al-islāmiyya , Somali : Midowga Maxkamadaha Islaamiga , also Supreme Islamic Judicial Council ) is or was a political and military umbrella organization of independent Islamic courts in Somalia .

The individual courts are independent units with differently strict Islamic legal interpretations. The union was founded by Islamic-minded business people (inside and outside Somalia), militia chiefs, Islamic clergy, local mayors and Islamic legal scholars to reduce violence and clan feuds in the Somali civil war .

In mid-2006, the Union was able to take control of the state capital Mogadishu and large parts of southern and central Somalia. After the declaration of war by neighboring Ethiopia on December 24, 2006, Ethiopia and the interim government of Somalia again ousted them. Today, parts of the Union, especially from its moderate and political wings, are in exile in Eritrea , where they form the alliance for the liberation of Somalia with other opposition members . Militant supporters, especially the radical youth movement al-Shabaab , are still active in Mogadishu and other parts of southern Somalia against the governments of Ethiopia and Somalia.

history

See also : Somali Civil War , History of Somalia

With the fall of the government in 1991, state jurisdiction collapsed in large parts of Somalia. The country was divided into contested areas of power of clans, warlords and their militias, in which banditry and attacks by armed men were widespread.

In this situation, local Islamic courts of justice took over the function of the judicial system, relying on differently strict Sharia law interpretation and tradition. They were carried by Islamic clergymen and Islamist warlords and businessmen who sympathized with them. In some cases, they also took on police duties, offered education and medical care. They enjoyed the support of large parts of the - almost exclusively Muslim - population.

In order to be able to enforce their jurisdiction more effectively and, in particular, across the borders of the clans , such courts began to merge. In 1999, a militia led by five courts of justice captured the road from Mogadishu to Afgooye and removed the numerous bandits and roadblocks; in the same year the dishes had also taken over the Bakara market . In 2000 the merger took place in the Union of Islamic Courts .

Map of the political situation in the Somali inhabited area on September 30, 2006: The rise of the Union of Islamic Courts (areas under its control in dark green) continues.

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the US has viewed Somalia as a possible haven for terrorists. For this reason, they observed the increase in power of the Union of Islamic Courts with concern and temporarily supported the " Alliance for Peace and Against Terrorism " (ARPCT), a loose association of warlords against the Union. A ceasefire negotiated in early May 2006 was broken ten days later when after ARPCT attacks on the Union, fighting broke out in the Somali capital Mogadishu , which is said to have been 80 percent under the Union's control at the time.

On June 5, 2006, after weeks of fighting - which resulted in approximately 350 civilian deaths, the majority - the Union was able to announce the complete capture of the capital Mogadishu. The ARPCT, which had controlled the rest of the capital until then, had to surrender its weapons and vehicles. In Mogadishu, for the first time in 16 years, some measure of peace and order was established under Union rule.

Map of the political situation on December 23, 2006: The area controlled by the Union is at its greatest extent.

Meanwhile, the Union of Islamic Courts continued to press against the internationally recognized, but largely powerless and rejected transitional government of Somalia , based in Baidoa . Negotiations between the two parties in the Sudanese capital Khartoum were unsuccessful. In August 2006 the de facto autonomous areas of Puntland and Galmudug in the north-east were also harassed by the Union.

Conflict with Ethiopia

After the Judicial Council captured Buurhakaba near Baidoa, neighboring Ethiopia threatened to start an invasion of Somalia in mid-July 2006, ostensibly to protect the transitional government in Baidoa. The conflict between Ethiopia and the Union of Islamic Courts ignites mainly around the now Ethiopian region of Ogaden , predominantly inhabited by Somali , which would like to join parts of the Union to Somalia ( see also : Greater Somalia ). Ethiopia also feared an Islamist appropriation of its own Muslim population. Parts of the Union said their priority was to establish peace in Somalia and not to conquer more territories, while other parts called for jihad against Ethiopia. On December 24, 2006, the Ethiopian Prime Minister announced that Ethiopia had officially declared war on the Union of Islamic Courts. Since then, Ethiopian troops have advanced into Somalia.

On December 27, the Union left Mogadishu - after which the interim government took control of parts of the city - and withdrew to Kismayo . Ethiopian and interim government forces followed suit and captured Kismayo on January 1, 2007. The transitional government offered Union fighters who allowed themselves to be disarmed an amnesty, but not their leaders. Sharif Sheikh Ahmed surrendered to the Kenyan police on January 21, was later released and went to Eritrea. Eritrea , hostile to Ethiopia, is said not only to offer refuge to exiled members of the Union in Asmara , but also to have supported their fighters with massive arms deliveries.

Map of the political situation on January 2, 2007: days later, the Union has been pushed back to a small area in the south.

At the beginning of 2007, an estimated 3,500 Islamist fighters were still in Mogadishu. The Union announced that it would wage a long guerrilla war, particularly against Ethiopia and the AMISOM peacekeeping force of the African Union . There were a number of attacks by Islamists and other actors, which soon grew into open fighting. Islamist and Hawiye fighters and other government opponents fought fierce skirmishes with troops loyal to the government in Mogadishu in the course of 2007, in which hundreds of thousands were forced to flee. The US stationed warships in the region and flew air strikes in January 2007 and again in early March 2008 over the Union's last retreats on the Kenyan border, where it suspects high-ranking international terrorists; It is unclear whether these were hit, and the number of civilians killed is also unknown.

In September 2007, members of the Union formed the alliance for the liberation of Somalia with other opponents of Ethiopia and the transitional government . In large areas of southern Somalia, the Union of Islamic Courts and its militant youth movement al-Shabaab are said to be on the rise again by the end of 2007. In early 2008 they carried out an increasing number of surprise attacks on medium-sized towns in southern Somalia.

Extremism and allegations of terrorism

The Union of Islamic Courts unites various currents. The legal interpretation of the individual courts varies, from moderately religious Sufis of the Qadiriyya order, the more strictly religious Salihiyya order - both of which take Somali traditions into account - to Islamists of the Wahhabi tradition of Saudi Arabia . While Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is seen as a moderate leader of the Union, Hassan Dahir Aweis is seen as a representative of a radical stance. Since Ethiopia was ousted from power, the moderate elements have lost their influence over the more radical elements.

The US and the opposing warlords are accusing the Union of cooperating with al-Qaeda and providing shelter for al-Qaida activists in Somalia, which the Union denies. Nevertheless, some of its leaders, such as Hassan Dahir Aweis , are said to have had previous contacts with al-Qaeda. Parts of the union emerged from the radical organization al-Itihaad al-Islamiya . The 1998 terrorist attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam are said to have been controlled from Somalia. According to media reports, Aden Hashi Ayro , a militia commander of the Union, is said to have attended an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan and was involved in the murder of several foreign aid workers. The radical youth movement of the Union, Hizbul Shabaab or al-Shabaab , has been on the US list of terrorist organizations since March 2008 and expressly welcomed this.

There were several suicide bombings in 2006 against members of the transitional government for which the Union is held responsible; she herself denied this. In the course of the fighting against Ethiopian and transitional government forces, suicide attacks were used on various occasions. A report by the human rights organization Human Rights Watch concludes that both the Islamist and other government opponents and the pro-government troops have committed war crimes by acting without consideration for the civilian population .

Western-oriented critics and parts of the Somali population fear that if the Judicial Council took over a government, a regime similar to that of the Taliban would be established in Afghanistan. Sharif Sheikh Ahmed , for example, said that women should continue to be allowed to work. However, other parts of the Union take more radical positions. After the southern Somali port city of Kismaayo was conquered by an extremist faction, many residents fled to Kenya. In November 2005, in some districts of Mogadishu, such courts ordered the closure of cinemas and video stores and banned dance halls. A ban on watching games being broadcast shortly before the 2006 World Cup was withdrawn after public protests that killed a girl and a cinema owner. In December 2006, an Islamic cleric in the town of Buulobarde threatened execution for anyone who did not sit down to pray five times a day. The al-Shabaab seeks explicitly an Islamic state under Sharia on.

See also

Web links

Commons : Somalia Civil War  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ FAZ-online of June 10, 2006, riots in Mogadishu after the football ban - faz.net
  2. Islamic Clerics Combat Lawlessness in Somalia . In: Christian Science Monitor , July 13, 1999
  3. Somalia: Unified armed forces seen as key to peace . IRIN News , September 5, 2006.
  4. Netzeitung of December 24, 2006 netzeitung.de ( Memento of September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ Somali government seeks control . BBC News
  6. Somali Islamic stronghold falls . BBC News
  7. Top Somali Islamist 'surrenders' . BBC News
  8. Eritrea 'arming' Somali militia . BBC News
  9. a b Airport attack in Somali capital . BBC News
  10. ^ Heavy Somali fighting amid crisis . BBC News
  11. ^ Somali Islamist Fighters Seize 2nd Town . ( Memento of January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) AP / Garowe Online
  12. spiegel.de June 7, 2006
  13. ^ Profiles: Somalia's Islamic 'lads' . BBC News
  14. Islamists deny Somali bomb claims . BBC News
  15. ^ Somalia: War Crimes in Mogadishu . Human Rights Watch
  16. ^ Somalis learn to follow the law . BBC News
  17. ^ Christian Science Monitor of September 27, 2006, csmonitor.com
  18. Ethiopian troops invade Somalia . In: Die Welt , July 24, 2006
  19. spiegel.de June 19, 2006
  20. spiegel.de July 12, 2006
  21. ^ Somalia's Islamists take key town . BBC News , September 11, 2006
  22. spiegel.de December 26, 2006