Somalis vie For presidency, Islamists Fight

DJIBOUTI, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Presidential candidates were seeking to persuade lawmakers meeting in Djibouti on Thursday that they can bring stability to a nation riven by feuding militias, rival Islamist insurgents and killing.

Somalia’s new parliament, including 200 moderate Islamist opponents, is to elect a president on Friday in the hope a more inclusive administration with strong leadership can face the daunting challenges at home.

The world push for reconciliation comes at a critical time for Somalia because the departure of Ethiopian troops, who had been supporting the government, has exacerbated a violent power struggle between rival Islamist factions.

Washington fears Somalia may become a breeding ground for Islamist militants and destabilise the fragile Horn of Africa.

A moderate Sunni group captured a central trading town on Thursday from the hardline al Shabaab group that seized the seat of parliament in Baidoa this week and has vowed to impose its strict version of Islamic law throughout Somalia.

Fighters from government-allied Ahla Sunna Waljamaca attacked Dusamareb in the morning, ousting their rivals after several hours of gunfire and mortar exchanges, witnesses said.

"Dusamareb is now in our hands and we are still chasing al Shabaab in the outskirts of town," Ahla Sunna spokesman Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abu Yusuf told Reuters.

International players hope the election of a new president, taking place in neighbouring Djibouti due to insecurity at home, could lead later to hardline opponents joining the government.

The 15 candidates have been lobbying parliamentarians informally, and each have 15 minutes to address parliament later on Thursday. The two viewed as best placed are Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the moderate Islamist leader from the ARS.

SHARIA LAW

Washington is backing Hussein, a quietly-spoken leader who won international kudos for standing his ground against former President Abdullahi Yusuf. He was viewed as an obstacle to peace and quit in December after threats of international sanctions.

Ahmed was chairman of the Islamic Courts Union that ruled Mogadishu in 2006 before America’s main regional ally, Ethiopia, ousted them to prevent an Islamist state taking root next door.

Before joining the government, Ahmed split with the hardline Islamist opposition. He has pledged to forge peace with Ethiopia and reach out to his former allies to try and end the violence.

But with al Shabaab in Baidoa, the government’s physical control is restricted to just some areas of Mogadishu, where they are being helped by a 3,500-strong African Union force.

The capture of Dusamareb was a blow to al Shabaab, which wants to take advantage of the Ethiopian departure to take over south and central Somalia. It still controls large swathes of the south and has generally been able to bring security there.

But its militant implementation of sharia law is unpopular, however, among many of Somalia’s traditionally moderate Muslims. They have chafed at practices like a ban on watching foreign films, public executions and other sharia punishments.

Terrified residents of Dusamareb fled to nearby woods during the fighting. "Mortars are now falling in the woods where we are as al Shabaab escapes towards our side," Habiba Maalim told Reuters from the scene.

"Al Shabaab has taken more than 20 people out of their homes. We cannot tolerate their slaughters. We want to reopen our Koranic schools and save our people and graves from the omnivorous Al Shabaab," said Ahla Sunna spokesman Yusuf.

Al Shabaab’s spokesman could not be immediately reached.

Interview: New Somali leader will need support, says Djibouti

DJIBOUTI, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Somalia’s new president will need a stronger mandate and international financial backing to stand a chance of bringing stability to the Horn of African nation, the president of neighbouring Djibouti said.

President Ismail Omar Guelleh, whose nation is hosting Somali reconciliation talks and a presidential election this week, said the international community must stump up money to build a viable local police force.

"He can do it, provided he is given some support … If there are some changes to the constitutional charter, and if he’s given the financial resources, he can stabilise the country."

The 61-year-old president, who has ruled the country of some 800,000 people since 1999, was speaking to Reuters late on Wednesday in the colonial-era presidential palace that overlooks the city’s port, the mainstay of its economy.

The two frontrunners at the moment for Friday’s Somali presidential election are Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the moderate Islamist leader from the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS).

The new president’s first challenge will be to bring security to Somalia after 18 years of fighting between feuding clans, warlords, Islamist insurgents, government troops, African peacekeepers and the Ethiopian army.

A force of 3,500 African peacekeepers controls part of the capital Mogadishu, but elsewhere in Somalia militias and Islamist fighters hold sway.

The biggest threat to the government since the Ethiopians pulled out this week is a hardline group of Islamist fighters known as al Shabaab that wants to impose a strict version of Islamic law throughout the country.

But Guelleh said many in al Shabaab were just clan-driven bandits with no ideology other than to steal or kill — not warriors for a hardline Islamist cause as often portrayed. "They know nothing about religion, just how to kill," he said. "Now, they are hiding behind al Shabaab."

Strong Mandate

Some diplomats have been pushing for a 10,000-strong local police force, and Guelleh said many young militia fighters would probably join up if given the chance.

"Once they have an institution that tells them ‘you are going to be paid, you are going to have a salary, you will be able to get married’, most of them — except the most hardline who will need to be fought — will join with the government."

He said it made no sense for donors to pay a fortune for peacekeeping troops when plenty of Somali policemen could be hired for $100 a month: a much cheaper option than the forces sent to Sudan’s Darfur region or Democratic Republic of Congo.

Guelleh also said it would be better to concentrate power with the president and make the prime minister more of an assistant, like the vice president in the United States.

"He has to be given a mandate and they should put an end to the state with three heads," Guelleh said, referring to the roles of president, prime minister and parliament speaker. "The president must be given the chance to turn things around."

The previous government was hamstrung by constant feuding between former President Abdullahi Yusuf and the prime minister. Yusuf was accused of blocking peace efforts and quit in December, triggering the election process.

Somalia now has 550 members of parliament, a number some politicians feel is simply too unwieldy for a country of 10 million people that has lacked central government since 1991.

Guelleh’s country, like Somalia’s other neighbours Kenya and Ethiopia, has taken in thousands of Somali refugees from the anarchy and conflict of the last 18 years.

By David Clarke  - (Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)