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Islamic Courts Union

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Midowga Maxkamadaha Islaamiga
اتحاد المحاكم الإسلام
Islamic Courts Union
Motto: none
Anthem: none
Location of the Islamic Courts Union
Capital
and largest city
Mogadishu
Official languagesSomali and Arabic
Government
Sharif Sheikh Ahmed
Hassan Dahir Aweys
Civil War Faction 
Has not declared autonamy nor independence
• Established
June 6th 2006 in Mogadishu
• Water (%)
Negl.
Population
• n/a estimate
unknown (not ranked)
GDP (PPP)- estimate
• Total
n/a (not ranked)
• Per capita
n/a (not ranked)
HDI (-)n/a
Error: Invalid HDI value (unranked)
CurrencySomali shilling (SOS)
Time zoneUTC+3 (MSK)
• Summer (DST)
UTC+3 (not observed)
Calling code252 (Somalia)
Internet TLD.so

The Islamic Courts Union (ICU, Somali: Midowga Maxkamadaha Islaamiga, Arabic: اتحاد المحاكم الإسلامية Ittihād al-mahākim al-islāmiyya) or Joint Islamic Courts or Union of Islamic Courts are often referred to in western media as the Somali Islamists, are a group of Sharia Courts who have banded together to form a rival administration to the Transitional Federal Government, with Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as overall leader of the ICU. Currently they are in control of the majority of Somalia and the vast majority of its population, including the capital of Somalia (Mogadishu) and most of the major cities in the country (Jowhar, Kismayo, Beledwayn, etc). Only the arid Northern regions, and the furthest interior regions of the south are outside their control.

History

Main article: Somali Civil War (2006-present)

Before the second battle of Mogadishu

After the collapse of the Somali government in 1991, a system of sharia-based Islamic courts became the main judicial system, funded by fees paid by litigants. Over time the courts began to offer other services such as education and health care. The courts also acted as local police forces, being paid by local businesses to reduce crime. The Islamic courts took on the responsibility for halting robberies and drug-dealing, as well as stopping the showing of what it claims to be pornographic films in local movie houses. Somalia is almost entirely Muslim, and these institutions had wide public support. The early years of the courts include such outfits as Sheikh Ali Dheere's, established in north Mogadishu in 1994 and the Beled Weyene court initiated in 1996. They soon saw the sense in working together through a joint committee to promote security. This move was initiated by four of the courts - Ifka Halan, Circolo, Warshadda and Hararyaale - who formed a committee to co-ordinate their affairs, to exchange criminals from different clans and to integrate security forces. In 1999 the group began to assert its authority. Supporters of the Islamic courts and other institutions united to form the ICU, an armed militia. In April of that year they took control of the main market in Mogadishu and, in July, captured the road from Mogadishu to Afgoi.[1]

After conquering of Mogadishu

File:Somalia Islamic Courts Flag.svg
Flag of ICU Military

However, as the courts began to assert themselves as the dispensers of justice they came into conflict with the secular warlords who controlled most of the city. In reaction to the growing power of the ICU, a group of Mogadishu warlords formed the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT). This was a major change, as these warlords had been fighting each other for many years. By the beginning of 2006, these two groups had repeatedly clashed, and in May 2006 it escalated into street fighting in the capital, claiming the lives of more than 300 people. On 5 June 2006, the ICU claimed that they were in control of Mogadishu.[2]

While, in the United States, the Bush administration neither confirmed nor denied support, American officials have anonymously confirmed that the U.S. government was funding the ARPCT, due to concerns that the ICU is linked to al-Qaeda and is sheltering three al-Qaeda leaders involved in past terror attacks, including the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. [3] There are fears in the U.S. that the ICU's victory may complicate the "War on Terrorism".

On 6 June 2006 the ICU further claimed it was in control of all the lands up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) inland from Mogadishu. The warlords were reported to have either been captured or to have fled the city, abandoning most of their weapons, with the majority fleeing to Jowhar, which was taken by the ICU militia on 14 June.[4] The ICU now has control of much of the weaponry in the country which makes a resurgence by the warlords difficult without outside support. The ICU also controls significant territory outside the capital, which includes the important town of Balad. In mid-August, ICU militiamen swept into the port town of Hobyo 500 kilometers north of Mogadishu, meeting no opposition.[5] The ICU organized a clean-up campaign for the streets of Mogadishu on 20 July. This was the first time litter and rubbish had been collected in the entire city since it collapsed into chaos over a decade previously.[6]

The only other major power in central Somalia is the Somali Transitional Government. As a result of the collapse of the warlords' power, the four warlord representatives in the transitional government were stripped of their cabinet posts. The transitional government is based in Baidoa, 250 kilometers from Mogadishu. After the ICU victory in Mogadishu, the transitional government voted to request foreign peacekeepers from the African Union. The African Union supports the transitional government, and would serve to defend it against the forces of the ICU. The ICU has rejected the need for peacekeepers, arguing Somalia needs aid, not more fighters. The Interim Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi states that he would like to meet with the ICU leaders. [7] This has resulted in the Treaty of Khartoum of 5 September 2006, in which it was agreed that the ICU and the Transitional Government would be merged; however, the ICU insisted on the precondition that Ethiopian troops would have to leave the country beforehand.

The two other major power centres in the country are the governments of Puntland and Somaliland, both of which assert their autonomy or, in the case of Somaliland, independence. In November 2006 the Islamic Courts said that Puntland's forces had carried out a pre-emptive strike against their fighters who were gathering on the edge of Puntland near Galinsoor. [8] The government of Puntland has vowed to resist any attack by the Islamic Courts. [9]

War with Ethiopia

Main article: Ethiopian war in Somalia

Structure and composition

As the name implies, the ICU is a union of Sharia law courts. These courts formed out of the chaos of the 1990s to administer justice in the districts in which they were established. Due to the chaos in Somalia, each court maintained a large militia to act as both police force and military. In February of 2006, 11 of these courts chose to pool their military resources in order to take over Mogadishu. (See Second Battle of Mogadishu)

Each member of the ICU is a Sharia judge in charge of a specified court in a particular district of Somalia, and it is up to him to determine how Sharia law is enforced. These interpretations can either be very literal or very broad, with various Hadiths being either regarded or disregarded, and correspondingly has led to varying levels of liberty and repression. Some courts are very liberal and do not enforce beyond what the Koran requires, others are very conservative and have beaten people for watching Football matches or playing "licentious" music.

In order to organize the courts into a more coherent organization, rather than a like-minded collection of independent judges, a "Supreme Islamic Court of Banadir" was created, with the most senior judges forming this high court. This court deals with wide issues, as well as foreign relations, and commands the ICU military forces as a whole. The chairman of the Supreme Islamic Court is Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. A consultative Shura council chaired by Sheikh Hassan Aweys approves the decisions made by the Supreme Islamic Court, and has therefore been called the "real power" in the ICU. The Shura cannot act unilaterally either, so this is not entirely true. In simplistic terms, this makes Ahmed the "President" of the ICU and Aweys the "Prime Minister". When Ahmed is otherwise indisposed (visiting a foreign country, ill, etc) Sheikh Abdirahman Jinakow is the Acting Chairman.

Below the Supreme Council and Shura Council are the regional courts spread throughout the country, which govern over the day to day issues of justice and law. These courts have enormous independence, and so the laws and regulations in ICU territory can vary wildly from town to town based on the particular moderation or radicalism of the local court.

The Shabab, or Youth Wing of the ICU, is a radical and somewhat independent organization under the ICU umbrella which is integrated quite tightly with the ICU armed forces, acting as a sort of "special forces" for the ICU. Shabab forces have been involved in some of the fiercest fighting of the entire conflict, and have earned quite a reputation as a fighting force. The leader of the Shabab is Shaykh Hasan Hersi, who goes by the name of "Al-Turki" or "The Turk". The Shabab has caused difficulties for the ICU in maintaining a good international image on a number of occasions due to their hot-headedness and zealousness, such as abducting critical journalists, shooting at football fans, and most infamously, murdering wounded JVA soldiers in a Bu'alle hospital.

File:Sharifah.jpg
Sharif Ahmed.

ICU Chairman Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is seen as a moderate and he has repeatedly declared that the objective of the ICU is the restoration of order after 15 years of violence. However, of the eleven courts composing the Union, two have reputations as radical. One is led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is on the U.S. list of terrorism suspects as the former head of the al-Itihaad al-Islamiya group, which has been linked to al-Qaeda. Western diplomats are also concerned by a second leader, Adan Hashi Ayro, who was trained in Afghanistan and whose militia has been implicated in the deaths of five foreign aid workers and a BBC producer. All but one of the Courts is dominated by the Hawiye clan.[10] Suspects from the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings are believed to be hiding in Somalia, and to be aided by the ICU.[citation needed] There have also been reports of foreign mujahideen fighting alongside the ICU. It is widely believed that the U.S. has provided funding for the secular warlord alliance due to these fears. However, Somalia has little history of radical Islam and the ICU has not embraced the most extreme forms of Islamic law, such as amputation of thieves' hands.[1]

File:060626 SOMALIA AWEYS vsm.rp420x400.jpg
Mr. Hassan Aweys also leads the Courts. However, he is suspected of having links with Al-Qaeda, something he vehemently denies.

Noted ICU Leaders

  • Shaykh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is the leader of the ICU. Ahmed was born in Chabila, Somalia and studied at Libyan and Sudanese universities. He is from the Abgaal branch of the Hawiye clan. He has also worked as a secondary school teacher of geography, Arabic, and religious studies. He speaks Arabic, Somali, and English.
  • Shaykh Hasan Hersi "Al-Turki" is leader of the Shabab group (a youth Islamic organisation). He has admitted at rallies in Kismayo on September 27, 2006 that "brothers in Islam" helped the Islamic Courts drive the former Jubba Valley Alliance (JVA) out of Kismayu. These traveling foreign Islamists were featured in a fundraising video that has circulated at least since April 2006, as the ICU moved to control Mogadishu.
  • Shaykh Yusuf Siad "Inda-Addeh" serves as deputy and financier for Hasan Dahir Aweys. He is the chief security of Islamic Courts. He is controversial for the fact that he was a former warlord who occupied Lower Shabeele in 2003. He later allied himself with the Islamic Courts. Cynics wondered why the Islamic Courts advanced to central and south Somalia regions, including the Kismayo area, before disarming warlord Inda-Addeh and taking control of Lower Shabelle region. However, the Lower Shabelle was officially handed over to the Islamic Courts in October 2006 and is no longer administered by Inda-Addeh.[11]
  • Shaykh Mukhtar Robow who goes by the name of "Abu Mansur", is the deputy chief of security for the Islamic Courts. He is credited with being instrumental in the victory of the Second Battle of Mogadishu against the ARPCT (CIA-backed warlords).
  • Professor Ibrahim Hassan Addow (M.Ed, PHD) is the head of foreign affairs department for the ICU. He lived in the United States and worked as an administrator at American University in Washington, D.C., before returning to Somalia in 1999. He is the dean of Benadir University in Mogadishu and has respresented the Islamic courts in its ongoing discussions in Khartoum and Nairobi with the Somali transitional government. [12]

Social policies

Islamic courts are widely seen by mainstream Somalis and independent observers as a revolutionary movement by the Somali people against iniquity, tribalism, rape, plunder and theft.

In the year 2000, the courts formed a union of Islamic courts, partly to consolidate resources and power and partly to aid in handing down decisions across, rather than within, clan lines. [13]

In an interview featured in the BBC Online Somali section in June 2006, Sheik Sharif Shaykh Ahmed said "the union of Islamic courts was established to ensure that Somali people suffering for 15 years would gain peace and full justice and freedom from the anarchic rule of warlords who refuted their people to no direction." Somalia is at a watershed period in its development and progression. Since victory against the ARPCT, the Islamic Courts have enacted a series of decrees and laws that have led to hope for the future of Somali expatriates, local minorities, businessmen and women.

  • On July 15 2006, the Islamic Courts opened the historical Mogadishu airport which had been shut down by warlords for 11 years. Mogadishu international airport had been closed since the withdrawal of the international forces in 1995 when rival faction leaders disagreed to offer the public service. In the final years, it was occupied by local thugs. The first airplane chartered by the Arab League flew from the airport for the first time in 11 years picking up Islamic Courts delegates to Sudanese capital Khartoum. [14]
  • On August 15 2006, the UIC captured Haradhere, some 500km northeast of Mogadishu, which had become a safe haven for pirates. Sheikh Ahmed said UIC forces went to Haradhere to deal with pirates who had made the Somali coast a no-go area. "The activities of these people [pirates] had made life very difficult for ordinary Somalis," he said. "Ships were refusing to deliver food to Somalia for fear of being hijacked. We were asked to do something about it and we did." The liberation of Haradhere has dealt a blow to pirates and given a boost to business and security in Somalia. This ended a long period of fear for International maritime communications as shipping firms and international organisations had been forced to pay large ransoms for the release of vessels and crews. [15]
  • On August 23 2006, the Islamic courts issued a directive banning the sale of charcoal, rare birds and rare animals. The Executive Committee of the Islamic Courts issued the directive after a full committee meeting agreed to the ban, Sheikh Abdulkadir Ali Omar, the UIC Vice-Chairman, said. "The decision was reached after the committee was briefed on the dangers posed by the indiscriminate cutting of our trees," he said. Almost all the charcoal goes to the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia, where a bag fetches about US $15. Local bandits and thugs were cutting down trees and burning them into charcoal. It was causing major destruction of the ecosystem, soil erosion and water scarcity. [15] However, the ban on charcoal was lifted after a month due to economical and political factors.
  • On August 25, 2006 the Islamic Courts opened historical Mogadishu seaport. Shut down by warlords for the past 10 years, Mogadishu's port used to be one of the busiest in East Africa, before the conflict led to its closure. On that day, hundreds of people went to the port to see the ship, which arrived from Kenya carrying goods such as TVs and coffee.[16] The port opened in circa 900 AD and described by Ibn Batuta's fourth trip (1328) as the busiest and richest port of the east African coast.
  • On September 21 2006, the Islamic Courts issued a decree forbidding the sale of khat (a narcotic drug) in the daylight during the holy month of Ramadan. Mostly consumed in Somalia and imported from mainly Kenya, it is widely seen as destructive for families, loss of income, waste of productivity and the primary cause of banditry and drug addiction. On October 2, from Kismayo, the Islamic Courts burnt in public seven bags of Khat imported from Kenya which caused anger among Khat traders who instigated riots to express their dissatisfaction. [17] On November 17 2006, the ICU banned the use, sale and transportation of Khat altogether and some Islamic Courts banned the sale of cigarettes.
  • On October 5, 2006 the Islamic Courts declared the formation of the supreme Islamic Sharia court of Banadir province. The announcement ceremony was attended by all Islamic officials; both consultative and executive councils, intellectuals and civil society members and took place in the former Somalian presidential palace in central Mogadishu. This announcement from the central Islamic Court ends all tribal Islamic Courts in the capital. [18]

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b Santoro, Lara, Islamic clerics combat lawlessness in Somalia, Christian Science Monitor, 13 July 1999 Cite error: The named reference "CSMonitor 1999" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ Lacey, Mark, Islamic militias take control of Somali capital, The New York Times, 5 June 2006
  3. ^ Lacey, Mark, Somali Islamists Declare Victory; Warlords on Run, New York Times, 6 June 2006
  4. ^ Somali Islamists capture key town, BBC News, 13 June 2006
  5. ^ Somali Islamists seize key port South African Mail and Guardian, 16 August 2006
  6. ^ Ethiopian troops on Somali soil, BBC News, 20 July 2006
  7. ^ Somalia: Islamic courts again warn of foreign troops in Somalia, SomaliNet News, 15 June 2006
  8. ^ Islamic Courts clash with Puntland, Al Jazeera, 06 November 2006
  9. ^ Puntland 'to fight Islamic courts', Al Jazeera, 21 November 2006
  10. ^ Profile: Somalia's Islamic Courts, BBC News, 6 June 2006
  11. ^ Sahal Abdulle, Islamists extend authority in Somalia, Reuters , 30 Sept 2006
  12. ^ Edmund Sanders, Islamists bring order to Somalia, but justice is far from uniform, Seattle Times, October 15, 2006
  13. ^ Kristina Nwazota, Islamist Control of Mogadishu Raises Concern of Extremist Future for Somalia, Online NewsHour, June 8 2006
  14. ^ Mohamed Abdi Farah, Somalia: Reopening of Mogadishu's airport welcomed, Somalinet, July 15 2006
  15. ^ a b SOMALIA: Transitional govt, Islamic courts agree to talks, IRIN, August 15 2006 Cite error: The named reference "IRIN" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  16. ^ First ship arrives in Mogadishu, BBC, August 25 2006
  17. ^ Mohamed Abdi Farah, Somalia: Large quantity of Khat leafs burnt in Kismayo, Somalinet, October 2 2006
  18. ^ Mohamed Abdi Farah, Somalia: Islamists set up central Islamic court in the capital, Somalinet, October 2 2006

See also

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