Somalia’s Islamic Courts Defends Kismayo

Islamic Courts repulse an attack on Kismayo, continues to consolidate gains

Colonel Bare Hirale, the defense minister in the transitional government and leader of the Juba Valley Alliance, has made good on his pledge to attempt to retake the key port city of Kismayo after abandoning the city almost a month ago. The Islamic Courts militia and Hirale’s forces clashed in Bu’aale on Friday, then outside of Kismayo on Saturday. “The fighting on the town’s outskirts lasted for two hours as rival forces used heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, witnesses said. Three civilians and two fighters, one from each side, were injured, said Abdi Yusuf, an official from Kismayo’s local hospital,’ reports the Associated Press. Colonel Bare Hirale’s wife and an unknown number of women were arrested after the attack for plotting against the Islamic Courts. The Islamic Courts is said to be pursuing Hirale’s force to a town 30 miles west of Kismayo.

Elsewhere in Somalia, the Islamic Courts has officially taken contol of the Lower Shabelle region, cementing the existing ties. “From now on Baravo militias will go under the control of Islamic Courts and they will be trained by the Courts,” said Abdulahi Halane Dhuhulow, a Baravo administrator. The Lower Shabelle is run Sheik Yusuf Indhoaadde, a military leader in the Islamic Courts who was seen on tape with foreign al Qaeda fighters last summer.

Aden Hashi Ayro is now seen as a rising star in the Islamic Courts, and the true face of the leadership. Sheikh Farah Moallim Mohamud, an Islamic Courts leader in the Hiran region, has yet again called for jihad against Ethiopia. Ethiopia has vowed to defend itself from the Islamic Courts, and Kenya has reinforced its border after the ICU deployed units at the border.

And in perhaps one of the most obvious attempts at controlling the message from Somalia, the Islamic Courts has issued what Reporters sans Frontières describes as a “draconian charter” against the press in Mogadishu. “The result of this draconian charter which Mogadishu’s new masters want to impose on Somalia’s journalists would be a gagged, obedient press, one constrained by threats to sing the praises of the Islamic courts and their vision of the world and Somalia,” states a Reporters sans Frontières press release.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

Tags: Somalia