Somalia: Shabaab insugents treated as hoodlum

Published on Monday 7th April 2008

Somalia, Apr 7: A controversial clan elder in south Somalia has referred to the country's al Shabaab insurgent group as "thugs" who wrongfully attacked a small town and looted property.

 

Ahmed Dirie, an outspoken critic of Ethiopian troops in Somalia, told a Mogadishu-based radio station Sunday that the al Shabaab insurgents' deadly attack on the town of 'Adado on April 3 was "aimed at hurting a [single] clan." "There were no government troops in 'Adado but the men who were attacked at the checkpoint [outside ' Adado] were placed there by the clan elders," said Mr. Dirie, who is spokesman for the self-appointed Hawiye Tradition and Unity Council, Garowe Online report said. He called on al Shabaab militants to return looted properties, including military trucks, and to offer blood compensation for the battle's dead victims. At least 20 people, including 15 government soldiers, were killed in last week's al Shabaab raid on a checkpoint outside the town of 'Adado, in Galgadud region. Col. Dahir Shidane, a military commander in the central regions, had previously stated that the men manning the 'Adado checkpoint were government troops under his command. But Mr. Dirie's claim is a stark contradiction to Col. Shidane's public statements that government soldiers ? and not clan militias ? were killed in the attack. Insiders said Mr. Dirie, who hails from Galgadud region, was disconcerted by the brazen al Shabaab attack on a town nominally seen as an insurgent stronghold. According to Mr. Dirie, clan militias belonging to a single Hawiye sub-clan were targeted in the al Shabaab attack on 'Adado, a town dominated by this sub-clan community to which Mr. Dirie himself belongs. But his anti-al Shabaab rant is dissimilar to comments associated with Mohamed Hassan Haad, chairman of the Hawiye Council. On Friday, Mr. Haad said that he "supports" ongoing insurgent attacks in parts of southern and central Somalia, which he said are aimed at "liberating" the country from Ethiopian troops. It is not clear whether or not there are fresh divisions among the Hawiye Council elders that is reminiscent of divisions in 2007 that divided the Council into two separate wings.