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Somalia: Islamic Courts Power Growing, Says Spokesman
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Garowe Online (Garowe)
17 December 2007
Posted to the web 18 December 2007
Garowe
The spokesman for Somalia's Islamic Courts movement spoke out for the first time on Monday since Islamists were toppled last year by Ethiopian-backed government troops.
Sheikh Abdirahim Ali Mudey told a Mogadishu-based radio station that Islamist officials and fighters are "everywhere in Somalia."
"We will fight as long as a single Ethiopian soldier remains on our country's soil," Mudey said, reiterating the group's long-standing policy towards Ethiopian interventionism.
He said the Islamist fighters are hopeful that "colonial troops" from Ethiopia and their "Somali collaborators" will be defeated and Somalia liberated again.
Sheikh Mudey was asked a question regarding widespread reports that Islamist guerrillas are planning to invade the southern port of Kismayo, the country's third-largest city.
"That news is false," Sheikh Mudey said. Last week, reports surfaced that government troops and allied clan militias in Kismayo were placed on high alert in response to an Islamist buildup in neighboring Middle Jubba region.
But Sheikh Mudey categorically dismissed an Islamist invasion of Kismayo, stating matter-of-factly: "We will not capture Kismayo...we are there right now."
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf recently said Kismayo is controlled by clans and is not under the control of his transitional government. [READ: Kismayo is not under the government's control: President]
Islamist leaders and guerrillas have refused to negotiate with the country's internationally-recognized government until the Ethiopian army withdraws from Somalia.
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Thousands of civilians have been killed this year in the war raging between government forces and Islamist fighters.
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