KENYA: U.S. government warns Islamists in control of Mogadishu not to expand their territorial control

Record ID: 362846

  • Title: KENYA: U.S. government warns Islamists in control of Mogadishu not to expand their territorial control
  • Date: 23rd June 2006
  • Summary: (W4) NAIROBI, KENYA (JUNE 21, 2006) (REUTERS) U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR AFRICAN AFFAIRS, JENDAYI FRAZER, ADDRESSING NEWS CONFERENCE CLOSE OF U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR AFRICAN AFFAIRS CAMERAMAN (SOUNDBITE)(English) U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR AFRICAN AFFAIRS, JENDAYI FRAZER, SAYING: "The Union of Islamic Courts should not continue to expa
  • Embargoed: 8th July 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAAWT7BI4ZIFKTZXQJF0BM0S7O0
  • Story Text: The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, said on Wednesday (June 21) that the Islamists militia in control of Mogadishu should stop expanding in to other areas of Somalia.
    The United States has convened an international "Contact Group" to look at ways to prevent fighting, while the United Nations and African Union are planning to send missions.
    U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer declined to answer questions about Washington's widely-assumed support for the defeated warlords but warned the Islamic militia not to expand their territorial control.
    "The Union of Islamic Courts should not continue to expand into Somalia,they need to stop in their tracks where they are right now and that is extremely important because their movement out makes all of us question their intention, their motives," she said on a visit to Kenya.
    Islamist militia advanced on the Somali town of Jowhar on June 14, aiming to expand their control of southern Somalia and beginning to flank the weak interim government's base in Baidoa. The Islamist capture of the critical town of Jowhar gives them control of a sizeable swathe of southern Somalia stretching from Mogadishu at the coast almost to the Ethiopian border. It also means they could strike at Baidoa from two directions.
    The Islamists, linked to sharia courts, seized the capital from secular warlords after a fight. The interim government is Somalia's 15th attempt to bring central government to a country where warlord-control has prevailed since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991. But it is based in Baidoa because it lacks the muscle to attempt a move to the capital that could involve a confrontation with militia forces.
    Sudan's president will try to mediate on Thursday between the Islamists and Somalia's interim government in Arab League-sponsored talks to avert a new war.
    The government's call for international peacekeepers and its assertion that Muslim fundamentalists from around the world helped the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) secure its victory in Mogadishu have infuriated the Islamists.
    The two sides seemed unlikely even to meet face-to-face.
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