Hassan Turki, Dahir Aweys, Omar Iman, and Others Join to Form Hisbal Islam

february 7th, 2009

A newly formed group known as Hisbal Islam (Islamic Party) vowed Saturday fighting against Somali’s new government led by president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and the AU forces in Mogadishu.

• Four insurgent factions agreed Wednesday to merge and continue fighting against the anticipated unity government of Somalia.
  

“The so-called government led by Sharif SheikAhmed is not different from the one of Abdulahi Yusuf,” said Dr. Omar Iman, who chairs Hisbal Islam.“The country was not freed from the enemy and Sharia law was not imposed, how we can stop Jihad (holy war),” Mr Iman added.

Somali’s new president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed arrived in Mogadishu on Saturday for the first time since he was elected president in Djibouti by the Somali Parliament last Saturday.

President Sharif briefed reporters and said he came to Mogadishu to form unity government in Mogadishu and to work for the peace.


The new, anti-government Islamic Party is composed of four factions –

• the Asmara wing of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia led by Hassan Dahir Aweys,


• Ras Kamboni Brigade, a southern Somali Islamist group affiliated with radical military leader Hassan Turki, (Shimronletters Editor's note: Turki was a senior leader in the Islamic Courts and its predecessor, al Itihaad al Islamiyah, was believed to be running a military training camp on the Kenyan-Somali border in March of 2008.)
  
• the Islamic Front, an insurgent group formed in 2007 to oppose Ethiopian troop presence in Somalia,


• and a little-known, clan-based group called Anole, which is said to have been founded just weeks ago.

Al-Shabab group which controls the port town of Kismayo is not a member of the new Islamic Party.

The Rest f@ Anikah

(editor's note: they claim their source is mareeg.com but I cannot find this news anywhere there)