KEEP OUT OF SOMALIA, ISLAMIST WARNS US

[fagash_killer]

Keep out of Somalia, Islamist warns US

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

07 June 2006 01:43

The leader of Islamist fighters controlling Somali capital Mogadishu warned the United States it would pay dearly for any intervention in the country, a pan-Arab paper reported on Wednesday.

Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the chairperson of the Islamic courts that have battled warlords for four months, said the US would face a disaster similar to a botched 1993 intervention that left 18 US army officers and 300 Somalis dead.

"If US forces intervene directly against us in Mogadishu, then we are ready to teach them a lesson they will never forget and repeat their defeat in 1993," Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed told Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat.

He rebuffed US accusations that his group, which are militias affiliated with the country's 11 Islamic courts, may be linked to the al-Qaeda terror network.

"We are not terrorists and we have said hundreds of times that America's talk about terror in Somalia is fabricated for suspect political motives," he said.

"We have no link to those being pursued by America, which is the biggest terrorist nation in the world despite its calls for democracy and respect for noble human values."

On Monday, the Islamists declared victory over a US-backed warlord alliance and their control of the capital following four months of bloody battles.

US President George Bush said on Tuesday that he was "concerned" about unrest in Somalia and that the US would ensure that the country does not become a haven for al-Qaeda.

Washington has never publicly confirmed or denied its support for the alliance but US officials told Agence France-Presse they had given the warlords money and intelligence to help to rein in "creeping Talibanisation" in Somalia.

The Horn of Africa nation was plunged into anarchy with the 1991 ousting of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre and analysts have long warned it could become a hotbed for radical Islam along the lines of Afghanistan.

Eighteen US army officers and almost 300 Somalis were killed in fighting in 1993 following a botched rescue attempt of a downed US helicopter in Mogadishu.

US troops left Somalia in March 1994 after arriving in December 1992 on a humanitarian mission. -- AFP