The United Nation’s special envoy to Somalia Mr. Ould-Abdallah has assured Islamist rebels in Somalia that even if they destroyed the government and gained authority over the country, they would have failed in their agenda, because the International community will come against them.
According to Mr. Ould-Abdallah the rebels cannot run Somalia while they are listed as terrorists by the UN, so to take the whole country hostage is a failure. Even if the Islamists succeeded in defeating the government it would leave the whole population hostage to drastic sanctions, and the rebels would be arrested and brought to justice.
Mr. Ould-Abdallah stressed that as long as incumbent interim President, Mr. Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, was elected by a unity government under a UN-backed peace initiative, a forceful takeover will be considered a coup d’état. The UN envoy further advised the Islamist rebel leaders that diplomatic negotiations will do their agenda more good than a forceful take over of Somalia.
The rebels however seem unwilling to end their insurgence. On Sunday, a car bomb driven into a government camp killed six guards and wounded many others. Reports claim that the car was driven into the camp by one of the 300 foreign fighters helping the insurgents. Howbeit, the 4,300-strong African Union peacekeepers based in the capital to support the fragile administration do not have the mandate to pursue the insurgents.
Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu has been plagued by 18 years of intermittent civil unrests. A recent introduction of Sharia law to the strongly Muslim country has not appeased the Islamist guerrillas, who are accused of having links with al-Qaeda.
After two weeks of intense fighting between Islamist and pro-government forces in Mogadishu, over 200 people are reported to have been killed. About 50 of these deaths have been recorded since Friday morning. Reports have claimed that the Islamist forces are supported by some Arab nations including Yemen and Eritrea.
