Islamist leader returns to Somalia town to defend peace

Somalia's top Islamist leader returned Saturday to his Jowhar stronghold two years after Ethiopia ousted him, aiming to push for the implementation of a deal to restore peace. Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who headed the very movement that Ethiopia sought to break, spoke to his supporters and asked them to back the measures adopted in Djibouti last month. The influential 44-year-old cleric, who heads the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and chairs the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), flew in from Nairobi to be greeted by thousands of supporters. "The reason I came to you is to explain what we have achieved and the agreement we reached with the transitional government in Djibouti," he later told a group of local officials, elders and traders in a hotel. "We need you to support that agreement, which we believe serves the interest of the nation." On October 26, the wing of the ARS headed by Sheikh Sharif signed an agreement with their erstwhile foes from the Ethiopian-backed transitional federal administration to kick-start peace efforts. It calls for an Ethiopian troop pullback and ceasefire to start this month and the activation of joint security units to gradually take over until UN peacekeepers are deployed. Sheikh Sharif's ICU currently controls the town of Jowhar, located 90 kilometres (55 miles) north of Mogadishu, from which Ethiopian troops recently pulled out. In 2006 the ICU took control of much of Somalia, triggering an invasion by neighbouring Ethiopia, which propped up an embattled transitional government and soon ousted the Islamists. While the ICU's political leadership largely fled to Eritrea, the movement's military and youth wing, the Shebab, switched to guerrilla warfare. The Shebab, which rejected the Djibouti deal, have relentlessly targeted Ethiopian troops, Somali government forces and African Union peacekeepers, and recently made substantial territorial gains in southern and central Somalia. They have refused to negotiate with the transitional administration until a full Ethiopian pullout is completed. In exile in Eritrea last year, Sheikh Sharif founded the umbrella opposition group ARS to push for an Ethiopian withdrawal, but he has emerged as the leading figure of the more moderate fringe among the Islamists. "We need to fulfill our commitments and implement what we have agreed on behalf of you. So you must understand that responsibility and support us to live up to the huge task ahead," he told his supporters Saturday. Thousands gathered at the dusty Jowhar airfield to welcome him. Heavily armed ICU fighters secured the town and patrolled the road linking the airstrip to the town centre. "We have tightened security and our forces are patrolling the entire region," Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed, an Islamist official in charge of security, told AFP. "All residents have gone out today to welcome the only leader they can believe will work for their safety. He is a great peace-loving leader who compromised for the sake of his ailing nation," said Sheikh Mohamed Suldan, a local elder who helped organise Sheikh Sharif's return. The crowd waved branches and banners as he drove through town and chanted slogans such "Welcome home, father of peace!" Among the by-standers was Halimo Ahmed, a mother of four. "We need peace and we support anyone who understands the value of peace. And that person is Sheikh Sharif," she said.