Islamic Courts ousted from Somalia

After two weeks of fighting, Ethiopian forces effectively ousted the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) from its rule in Somalia, reinstating the governance of the country's weak Transitional Federal Government (TFG). Somalia's internal affairs minister and assistant prime minister, Hussein Mohammed Farah Aideed, said his government intends to wipe out the boundaries between Somalia and Ethiopia. He said 60 percent of 2 million Somali refugees live in Ethiopia and use Ethiopian passports. "Ethiopia and Somalia have 2,000 kilometers between them. The two Shabelle and Jubba rivers in Somalia come from Ethiopia. Now we need to eliminate the boundaries between us because we are brothers, and we will use one passport," he said. He said Ethiopia was the only country that was determined to set up a state in Somalia after years without a government. "No country in the world cared about Somalia," he said. He urged tribal leaders to support the government and the Ethiopian troops in the country. On Jan. 1, UIC mid-level officials and fighters got a renewed offer of amnesty from Somalian Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi, who also set a three-day deadline for residents of Mogadishu to turn in their guns. The TFG's victory was not without controversy. On Dec. 27 in Dinsor, Somali government and Ethiopian troops entered a hospital run by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (DWB). The troops threatened Somali staff and confiscated all patients' medical records. "It happened on the day after the TFG and Ethiopian troops took control of Dinsor town," said Gustavo Fernandez, head of the DWB mission in Somalia. "We have no idea why they took the files–which are confidential by nature and have no other information except the medical information of the patients," he added. Meanwhile, Eritrea accused the United States of being behind the war in Somalia. Diplomats across east Africa agree that Washington almost certainly gave tacit approval for Ethiopia to provide the forces which allowed the TFG to roll into Mogadishu and send the courts packing. Washington has accused Eritrea of providing arms and men to the Islamic Courts. Eritrea denies that. "There is a misrepresentation in the media. This war is between the Americans and the Somali people," said Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu. "External forces are trying to impose their liking on the Somali people.... The issue is the geopolitical interest of the superpowers versus the choice of the Somalis," he said. The Islamic Courts brought a semblance of normality to a country in chaos since 1991 when they seized Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia six months ago and imposed strict sharia law. The Islamic Courts movement came to power with the popular support of Somalis tired of the brutish rule of warlords who called themselves an "anti-terrorism coalition" and received financial backing from the CIA. Somalis tend to adhere to a moderate version of Islam, and for many, supporting a movement that enforced Islamic law with varying degrees of severity was a pragmatic choice rather than a religious one. But the UIC fled the capital on Dec. 28 and melted away from their last bastion around the southern port town of Kismayu on Jan. 1 following nearly two weeks of ground and air offensives by government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks, troops and jets.