Published July 4th, 2006 by Future Atlas
Somalia: toward Taliban on the Horn of Africa
The WP reports that fundamentalists are edging out the moderates for control of the Islamic militias.
The first hints of change came when militia members forced the closure, in some neighborhoods, of cinemas showing the World Cup and films they deemed too sexually explicit. Some young women opted for more conservative head coverings, some young men for shorter hair.
Restraining mechanisms might come into play:
Some Somalis hold out hope that the same loose coalition of businessmen, activists and clan elders that helped drive out the warlords will soon turn against the militias as power breeds brashness. Ali Iman Sharmarke, a businessman and radio journalist in Mogadishu, said he believed the Islamic militias would lose power if they grew too strict in their interpretation of religious law. “People will hate them as they hated the warlords,” Sharmarke said from Nairobi. “The moderates will not fly with bin Laden.”
Overall, the likelihood of the “Taliban on the Horn” scenario prevailing has risen, and this also ups the probability of future war between Somalia and Ethiopia.