US Turns to Somali Courts Leader

"Washington does not want Ethiopian to have the upper hand and believes its role ended with routing the Supreme Islamic Courts of Somalia (SICS)," Abdullah Nour, a Somali writer and researcher, told IslamOnline.net in an interview.

US Ambassador in Nairobi Michael Ranneberger plans to meet Sharif, the head of the SICS Executive Council, as early as Tuesday.

"The ambassador will urge Sheikh Sharif to counsel his supporters not to carry out violence and to support the development of an inclusive government," said US Embassy spokesman Jennifer Barnes.

"The US knows pretty well that the presence of loathed Ethiopian troops in Somalia would not secure the much-sought political stability and drive away those Washington sees as extremists and Al-Qaeda loyalists," Nour said.

The expert added that Washington is aware that the interim government is highly unpopular among Somalis because of its alliance with Ethiopia.

Sheikh Sharif has turned himself over to Kenyan authorities over the weekend and is currently staying in an upscale hotel under Kenyan protection.

He is considered the number two in the once powerful SICS, which was ousted from the capital Mogadishu and strongholds in southern Somalia in recent weeks by Ethiopian forces.

Sheikh Sharif had been the public face of the SICS when it first started to flex its muscles in January and February of last year, booting US-backed warlords from Mogadishu.

But once the capital fell, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, designated a terrorist by the US, took over as the group's supreme leader.

Aweys' whereabouts remain unknown but he is believed to be on the run somewhere in southern Somalia.

More
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1169545083080&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout