Garowe Online (Garowe)
10 February 2008
Garowe — A group of Islamic Courts officials are holding private meetings in parts of southern Somalia, an Islamist official and inside sources said today.
Mohamed-Amin Abdullahi, a member of the Eritrea-based Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), told local reporters that the meetings will go on for a few days in Dhobley, Lower Jubba region.
"The Islamic Courts is its own group...they have the right to hold private consultations in whatever regions they are in," Mohamed-Amin said, while indicating that the current meeting is related to efforts to "create an administration."
He did not elaborate further, but sources close to the meeting told Garowe Online that the Islamic Courts' Dhobley discussions are centered around the issue of Lower Jubba region.
Some officials want Islamist militiamen in the jungles of Lower Jubba to take control of the whole region including Kismayo, the sources said. But other officials want the group to remain in the jungles and continue covert operations.
No decision has been reached in the deliberations yet.
Last week, government troops and allied clan militias in the port of Kismayo, the capital of Lower Jubba, were placed on high alert following threats of invasion issued by Islamist officials in Dhobley.
The Kismayo group, who are nominally allied to the Somali government, vowed to defend the strategic port town from an Islamist attack.
Ahmed "Sandhere" Abdi, the deputy governor of Lower Jubba, told Radio Garowe on Saturday that "there are no problems in Kismayo."
"We know about him [Mohamed-Amin] in Dhobley. He is alone and we do not know of any soldiers he has," Deputy Governor Sandhere said, adding: "We have enough troops and at this particular time...we do not need any help from the government."
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