From T.O. to Mogadishu

A "Toronto Star" story from about a month ago that is somewhat related to a previously posted feature on Dadaab...

(See also the separate "Mogadishu: The Canadian Connection", which is much, much longer--as well as the semi-related "Into Africa, with a mission".)

In this dusty, broken city, past the pockmarked walls bearing the scars of countless battles, through the guarded gates of the Al Furqan University and inside a sunny office, sits a former Toronto grocery store owner who is now a leader in an Islamic regime that has been likened to the Taliban.

Canadian Abdullahi Afrah, or Asparo as he’s known to most, left Toronto nine years ago to return to his birthplace to see an end to the years of civil war that has consumed the country since the government collapsed in 1991.

That journey has brought him to the Union of Islamic Courts, which swept into Mogadishu in June, defeating the reigning warlords with cunning military prowess.

Like the Taliban, they immediately invoked strict adherence to sharia law and have presided over public executions of criminals, floggings of women who fail to wear the hijab and censorship of the media.

And like the Taliban, their authoritarian rule has brought stability to a war-weary people. In a series of rare interviews, the Star spoke with the union’s leaders including Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the Islamists’ wily military commander and religious head credited for the takeover of this city and much of southern Somalia.

Aweys, nicknamed the “Old Fox” for his flaming red-dyed beard and shrewd nature, is regarded as one of the more radical members of the group’s leadership and is listed by both the United Nations and U.S. State Department as a “supporter of terrorism.”

"Why don't they give us a chance?" Aweys asked during the interview at his home. "We need the choice of our own freedom and which kind of government should be stable for us. We need to decide for ourselves."

Mogadishu became an international pariah in 1993 when two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters were shot from the sky and dead American soldiers dragged through the streets. The world largely turned its back on the country during the years since, as thousands were killed in battles between warlords or by hunger and disease. Anarchy ruled and nowhere more so than this capital city, which is considered one of the most dangerous places on Earth.

Hundreds of thousands fled, seeking refuge in camps nearby or to countries thousands of kilometres away. It's estimated that more than 100,000 Somalis settled in Canada, creating the largest diaspora outside of Africa. Asparo was one of them.

Asparo's current standing has shocked those in Toronto who remember him.

"No one could believe it," said one Toronto Somali leader. "He was shy, quiet. We thought it couldn't be the same man."

Asparo is remembered in Toronto's Somali community for the variety of jobs he held in Canada — co-owner of a halal grocery store on Dundas St. W. or running a branch of a Somali money wire service — but not for his religious or political views.

The 54-year-old says he even once worked as a security supervisor for the Toronto Catholic school board before returning here in 1997.

But he now downplays this remarkable and strange journey from a seemingly mundane life in Canada to Islamic scholar and powerful leader here.

"I love adventure so it was not tough for me," he said, with a smile.

Now he's encouraging other Somali Canadians to follow.

"(Canadians) will make a good life if they come back, even Canadians with very few resources. We're very, very pleased to have them back. We need some expertise."

But it's an invitation that makes some Western security agencies wary.

Little is known about the Union of Islamic Courts, its members, and who's in control. A call this month [October] for jihad against neighbouring Ethiopia led some to fear that a proclamation for war against the West will follow, attracting reinforcements from other war-torn areas.

It's the younger members of the organization, such as the elusive Adan Hashi Ayro, suspected by the United Nations of involvement in several unsolved murders, including the shooting death of a BBC producer here last year, who cause the most concern.

Aweys is a former associate of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden but denies his group has any aspirations other than bringing long-awaited peace to a divided nation.

"We don't care what they say, we don't have any links with Al Qaeda," Aweys said.

Before the Islamists organized themselves, a transitional federal government was formed in 2004 as a means to bring central control — something the country had lacked since the presidency of Gen. Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown 15 years ago.

Warlords representing the country's major tribal clans were appointed to cabinet positions and equally represented in an effort to pacify years of tribal warfare.

Here again, Somali Canadians returned home to assume positions of power.

But despite great fanfare, the transitional government now complains it didn't receive promised resources and the international expertise it needs to operate effectively.

"Things would have been different if the international community had acted in a timely fashion. They have been promising the last two years they would help with the institution-building, peace-building, with reconciliation efforts, with the establishment of the organization and disarmament. None of it has materialized," the transitional government's minister of information, Canadian Ali Jama, told the Star.

Etobicoke Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj said he believes the Canadian government overlooked an opportunity last year to help stabilize Somalia.

Wrzesnewskyj went on a fact-finding mission to Somalia last fall to meet with leaders of the transitional government, including President Abdullahi Yusuf, and was impressed with what they promised to achieve.

But they needed help and Wrzesnewskyj said he brought back an urgent appeal for a Canadian envoy to help cement the transitional government's role and work toward the goal of democratic elections slated for 2009.

Despite many meetings, memos and promises — Wrzesnewskyj said Somalia was not high on the former Liberal government's agenda, nor has it caught the attention now of Stephen Harper's Conservative government.

"The West's, including Canada's, attention was preoccupied with wars," said Wrzesnewskyj. "Unfortunately our lack of interest in Somalia when peace had a chance has now ironically given war a chance."

Earlier this year, warlords within the transitional government were reportedly given covert support from the United States in an effort to subdue the rising popularity of the Islamists. But the mission backfired and the warlords' brutal actions instead only brought the Islamists together as one organization and critically undermined the government.

In the ensuing power vacuum, as the transitional government worked to restore its reputation, the Islamists moved in and restored security.

Despite efforts to negotiate with the Islamists at peace talks to be held two weeks from now in Sudan, the government appears vulnerable.

Ethiopia has reportedly sent troops to its aid, only raising the ire of the Islamists and neighbouring Eritrea. Ethiopia denies troops are on the ground and Eritrea refutes claims that it has flown weapons into the airport here for the Islamists — but many fear the long-time rivals will now use Somalia to continue their war.

In Baidoa, the transitional government's stronghold 250 kilometres from here, President Yusuf narrowly escaped an assassination attempt that killed his brother and several others last month.

The suicide truck bombing was a first for Somalia and seemed to bolster claims of foreign terrorist involvement. Initially, Yusuf accused Al Qaeda of masterminding the blast but yesterday [October 19th], during a meeting in Nairobi with Western and African diplomats, he pointed the finger at the Union of Islamic Courts and alleged Aweys ordered his assassination.

Wrzesnewskyj said he hopes that despite the recent violence there is still an opening for Canada and others to help in the peace talks.

Others are less optimistic any mediation will arrive in time.

Canadian Awad Ahmed Ashareh is now a member of parliament with the transitional government and while he believes there are some members of the Union of Islamic Courts who are open to negotiation, he concedes the power imbalance is frightening.

"There won't be disarmament without foreign support because in the Islamic courts, every clan, they have their own arms, headed by a sheikh. They transferred the arms of the warlords to the sheikhs of their clans," he said during a recent interview in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

Ashareh then stops the interview as he breaks into sobs, explaining that the stress of life in Somalia is sometimes overwhelming.

His shoulders shaking, wiping tears angrily away, he pauses to compose himself and apologize.

"I tell you, it's a horrible situation," he says.

"Nobody's helping Somalia."