All of us would hope for peace in all parts of the world and let's hope it can happen, but, this 'popular uprising' still has some missing answers:

ANN: Where do you get support in terms of arms and finance?
Sh. Sherif: The support comes from the people who have established these courts.

ANN: There are Muslim people who commit suicide bombings for their own reasons whatever they could be. How do you see these people? Do you see them as martyrs or criminals? Do you think if you find yourself in a critical position that you can resort to such action?
Sh. Sherif: I would rather not answer this.

ANN: Recently Sheikh Hassan Al Turabi of Sudan said that he had no objection to a woman or Christian being president in Sudan. What is your position on this issue? Could a woman or a Somali Christian be a president for the country?
Sh. Sherif: You mean hypothetically if such a situation arises what would you have done? In fact the religious scholars say that it is not a preferable option. Therefore, I don't want to go into that now. I don't like to answer hypothetical questions. I will give an answer when the situation comes.

ANN: How about freedom of expression. As long as Mogadishu is in your hands now, do you think that you will allow freedom of press and personal rights?
Sh. Sherif: It is one of the things that we highly value. As you know Mogadishu press and the world press write a lot of lies about us, however, we don't contest it and we don't make [a] fuss about it. This shows that there is a lot of freedom of expression. Since the inception of the Islamic Courts, no one was detained on the basis of what they said or what they believe.

ANN: How do you respond to the question: Who is Sheikh Sherif Sheikh Ahmed? Where was he born? Where did he study? And what are his ambitions?
Sh. Sherif: I would rather not answer this.

Wonders again, the so called Reality check needs some checks on his/her head. Something trivial seems to be. What do you know of Somalia after all. You need to read "thorough through" and understand global events before you jittle anything, my friend. Somalia needs people like sheikh Sharif to rescue rather than the blood thirsty Americans, by the way. Many years ebbed without a national anthem and truely Sheikh Shariff deserves a bouquet rather than a barb.
Galty

Bashir seems away from the point and indeed far away. He happens to be poisoned and dillusioned by the radicalism many need checks on. How long have you been away from Somalia? and have you ever seen somalia since the demise of the then government? You need some rainchecks I guess my friend. You never whispered a word of wisdom to help out your fellow Somalians in disarray and in helter sckelter all over the world, with disdain, dismay and dissollution. It is time you woke-up and contribute well to the well deserved success of men like sh. sharif and his team. Time to think of nation building rather than nation dismantling.
Galty

Galty, I don't think I claimed to be a Somalia expert, just noted the rhetoric of so called Muslim peacemakers...

On your point of awareness of the world stage, check this out:

Malaysian Woman Not Allowed to Abandon Islam

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, JUNE 26, 2006 Christian Churches in Malaysia have launched a prayer campaign to support a woman whose conversion to Christianity is prohibited by law.

Lina Joy converted to Christianity in 1998, and applied to the National Registration Department to officially change her religion from Muslim to Christian, reported AsiaNews.

She was refused then, and subsequently in a court of appeal, because as an ethnic Malay she is legally Muslim, and prohibited from changing religions.

AsiaNews reported that two legal systems coexist in Malaysia: one based on Islam and the other on the constitution.

The constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but Islamic law prohibits conversion to any other religion.

Religious issues involving Malays, including conversions to other religions, fall under the jurisdiction of Islamic courts and not under the country's general laws.

AsiaNews also reports that if Lina Joy is not recognized as a Christian, she can only marry a Muslim in a Muslim ceremony, and will be subject to Islamic family and inheritance laws...whatever the judges' verdict might be, grant the judges the wisdom they need to pass judgment in the case, and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi the strength to "uphold the constitution."

Now I am no apologist for US arms dealers either, but, as far as I am aware in Western democracies you can change your religion (or invent one) without retribution, so long as you don't upset the gay lobby!

I wish the Shiek well in implementing UN Coventions on Civil Rights and Religious Freedoms...slavery is better than war or death, but, legitimate freedom is the best source of peace.

Good news!

Reciprocal recognition between Somali government and Islamic Courts which control most of the country

Mogadishu (Agenzia Fides)- An agreement reached between the Islamic Courts and the transition government of Somalia foresees a treaty and reciprocal recognition.

The agreement - said agreement mediator Arab League general secretary Amr Mussa, - includes “reciprocal recognition”, an end to “military and propaganda campaigns” and urges “unconditioned dialogue in the ambit of reciprocal recognition” and bringing to justice of “war criminals”.

The agreement was signed on 22 June in Khartoum, capital of Sudan. At the end of the talks and the signing of the document, Sudan foreign minister Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail, and the leader of the delegation of the Islamic Courts Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, embraced. The agreement calls on all the factions in Somalia to make peace. The Islamic Courts which since early June control most of Mogadishu are extending their influence to the rest of the country, in a state of civil war since 1991: in many areas Islamic Sharia law has been imposed.

The sides agreed to meet again on 15 July to solve open questions such as the deployment of foreign peace keepers and the return to troops Mogadishu of the government exiled in Baidoa 250 kn away from Mogadishu. The question of foreign troops is sensitive sine the people have bad memories of UN and US missions to Somalia.

The agreement reached is important because hitherto the government set pre-conditions which the Courts rejected. Mediation by Sudan, rotating head of the Arab League.

The Somali government is led by Abdullahi Yusuf, elected President of Somalia 10 October 2004 in Nairobi (Kenya) by the Somali transition government. The executive has been unable to move to the capital, because of the opposition of rebel groups which controlled the city until they were chased away by the Islamic Courts a few weeks ago. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 23/6/2006 righe 33 parole 408)

oh dear, going backwards...

At least five people died Tuesday 27 June 2006 and six others were wounded when Islamist militiamen who control Somalia's capital broke an agreement not to resume hostilities and attacked a checkpoint set up by one of the secular clans that had opposed them. The fighting was the first since the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) signed the deal last week. Meanwhile, amid signs that the ICU may try to turn Somalia into a Taliban-style state, the Bush administration said it would deal with others in the regime there but not with newly appointed legislative council chief Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is on a US list of most-wanted terrorists.

A once-powerful warlord in Somalia surrendered hundreds of weapons - among them machine guns and mortars - to the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) Saturday, further consolidating the latter's takeover of the Horn of Africa country. Omar Finnish also put members of his militia under the ICU's leadership, saying he was doing so at the request of "our traditional and religious elders." Analysts said the clan militias that until recently had fought for control of the capital no longer pose much of a threat to the ICU's expanding control. But Somalia remains tense because the ICU and the interim - and weak - government have yet to resume talks on their future relationship.

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR http://www.csmonitor.com 3/7/06

Heavy casualties were reported in Somalia's capital as the Islamists who seized it last month routed the militias of two secular warlords who'd rejected demands to surrender. At least 19 people died in the fighting Sunday and dozens of others were wounded. The two sides had agreed last month not to resume hostilities, but reports said the Islamists first sealed off escape routes from enclaves controlled for years by the secular clans, then attacked them.

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR http://www.csmonitor.com 9/7/06

Gun battles between Islamist militiamen and fighters loyal to Somali warlords extended into a second day in the capital, Moga-dishu, and hospital sources said the number of deaths had passed 60. Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys accused President Bush of using the warlords "to kill people" and said his militia had "no other option but to fight to the finish." But because of the violence, the deputy prime minister of Somalia's fledgling government said the Islamists should be excluded from peace negotiations scheduled for this weekend.

CSM 11/7/06

Rocket-launchers, pickup trucks mounted with machine guns, and other weapons were handed over to the Islamic militia that controls Somalia's capital as hundreds of secular clan fighters surrendered Tuesday. Some reports said their leader, warlord Abdi Awale Qaybdid, fled Mogadishu under cover of darkness for Baidoa, home of the battered nation's powerless interim government. But other reports claimed Qaybdid, the last holdout among the warlords who had occupied much of the capital, had been wounded in the fighting and was hiding there. At least 77 people died and 150 others were hurt in two days of heavy gun battles prior to Tuesday's surrender.

“Outside interventions can be counter productive unless there is precise knowledge of the situation” says Bishop Bertin Apostolic Administrator di Mogadishu

Mogadishu (Agenzia Fides)- “For about a century the Catholic Church has dedicated her service-witness to the poor in Somalia. She did this under colonialism, then with the first Republic, the regime of Siad Barre and in the chaos which followed his fall in January 1991. And she intends to continue her service, if she is allowed to do so, even after the Islamic Courts have taken power over a good part of the country” Fides was told by Bishop Giorgio Bertin, Catholic Bishop of Djibouti and Apostolic Administrator of Mogadishu.
“I have just returned from visits to Europe and the United States where I illustrated the situation in Somalia” the Bishop said. “Many people asked whether an intervention is necessary in the face of the advance of the Islamic Courts. I replied that at the moment it is best to wait and see what happens. Outside interventions can sometimes make things worse rather than better. It is enough to see what happened in recent months when support offered to the ephemeral War Lords’ alliance proved to be ulterior incentive for the Islamic Courts”.
“Somali society is extremely complex” the Bishop explained. “It is very difficult to intervene from outside without upsetting things. It remains to be seen if the Islamic factor succeeds in overcoming traditional Somali clan traditions. The Islamic Courts now in power in Mogadishu were born within the Hawaye clan and so far, despite various attempts, they have failed to expand themselves beyond that clan ”.

Some international media say Ethiopian troops are ready to intervene in support of the transition government, recognised by the international community and based at the moment temporarily in Baidoa. “Ethiopia has always feared that the presence of Islamic extremism in Somalia could spread to Somali Muslims living on its territory” said Bishop Bertin. “However an outside intervention might push many Somali to side with the Islamic Courts. Hence the need for maximum prudence and careful assessment of the situation”.
Today July 14 to protest against supposed violations of the cease fire on the part of the militia of the Islamic Courts the provisional government decided to boycott peace talks due to open tomorrow in Sudan. The cease fire agreement was agreed on 22 June during the first talks in Sudan between representatives of the Islamic Courts and those of the provisional Somali government.
At the international level the UN Security Council agreed to let the arms embargo on Somalia be lifted: this opens the way for a possible deployment of peacekeepers in Somalia as requested by the African Union. A decision will be taken on the basis of a detailed AU study for the Inter-Government Authority for Development (IGAD), comprising seven east African countries (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and Somali provisional government) which already approved the initiative in principle in January 2005. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 14/7/2006 righe 42 parole 521)

Despite their announced intention to capture the only town held by the transitional government of Somalia, militiamen from the Council of Islamic Courts (UIC) said Thursday they'll halt their advance and pull back about 40 miles. The US had said it was "gravely concerned" at the plan, and the UN's special representative for Somalia urged restraint. Against that backdrop, witnesses said Ethiopian Army units pledged to defend the weak interim government were on the streets of Baidoa, its base, and a UIC spokesman said they had become its new focus of attention. "God willing, we will remove the Ethiopians from our country and wage [jihad] against them," he said.

CSMonitor Headline News Service <www@csmonitor.com>

Yeeeeehah!