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MOGADISHU, Somalia-Advancing ever closer to Somalia's beleaguered capital, heavily armed Islamic fighters declared Thursday they will use strict Muslim rules to bring their lawless Horn of Africa country back under control.The latest conquest by Islamic forces came late Wednesday in Elasha, 10 miles, (16 kilometers) from the capital of Mogadishu. Thousands of people who have fled a bloody, two-year insurgency are living there in flimsy huts made of sticks and plastic tarp.Islamic fighters now control most of southern and central Somalia, with the crucial exceptions of Mogadishu and Baidoa, where the parliament for Somalia's weak, U.N.-backed government sits."Our fighters have taken the control of the area to provide security for the displaced people" suffering under the constant fighting, said Abdirahin Isse Adow, a spokesman for the Islamist forces in Elasha.The insurgents, who are fighting to enforce Shariah law in Somalia, are not a homogenous group. Al-Shabab, which the U.S. considers a terror group because of its leaders' alleged links to al-Qaida, controls the most territory. Elasha, however, was taken over by relatively more moderate fighters.In recent weeks, al-Shabab has carried out a public execution by stoning—reportedly of a 13-year-old gang rape victim—and lashings of alleged thieves."We inform you that from today on, all areas under our control will be ruled by Islam," Shabab commander Sheik Abukar told residents of Merka on Thursday, one day after taking over the key port town without firing a shot. "We will change the behavior of the youth here."Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a socialist dictator and turned their clan-based militias on each other. The battles have devastated the impoverished nation—half the population is expected to be dependent on food aid by the end of the year."We have no means and power to deploy our army all over the country," Somalia's Chief of General Staff Gen. Said Dheere told The Associated Press. "We have, therefore, confined our army only to strategic stations in Mogadishu and Baidoa."The U.S. worries that Somalia could be a terrorist breeding ground, particularly since Osama bin Laden declared his support for the Islamists. It accuses al-Shabab of harboring the al-Qaida-linked terrorists who allegedly blew up the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing over 230 people.The U.S. sent a small number of special operations troops with the Ethiopian forces in 2006 and in 2007 conducted several airstrikes in an attempt to kill suspected al-Qaida members.The Islamists' recent conquests echo events in Somalia in 2006, when a group known as the Council of Islamic Courts took over much of the southern Somalia and the capital for six months before troops from Ethiopia—the region's military powerhouse—arrived to drive them out.The Islamists had brought southern Somalia a semblance of stability, but also frightened people into submission by carrying out public executions and floggings.This time, the Islamic groups are not united. More moderate Islamists have signed peace deals with the government, while hard-liners are refusing to negotiate until the mostly Christian Ethiopian troops leave.The Ethiopians, hemorrhaging money and troops, have already pulled back from some positions as part of the peace deal with the moderates. The Ethiopian regime says it wants to withdraw, but others believe it has calculated that an occupation of Somalia is better than having a radical Islamist regime next door.Many Somalis say they are willing to accept the Shariah restrictions if the Islamists can deliver the stability the government has failed to bring.Islamist fighters rode unchallenged into both Merka and Elasha after the pro-government militia deserted, waving and smiling at residents. They shouted "God is great!", rifles slung casually across their backs."The Islamist fighters do not loot our property and do not extort money," said Yusuf Keynan, whose shop in Merka lies a stone's throw from the azure Indian Ocean.But others fear the war is just the latest chapter in two decades of clan-based fighting."I am Muslim, my father and grandfather were Muslim too, so there is no question that I prefer Shariah law," Farhan Abdi Abdulle, a 19-year-old student, said in Mogadishu. "But I do not want Shariah law misinterpreted by particular group as a tool for taking power."http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D94E59J80&show_article=1&catnum=0
As in the days of Noah...
