Communicating Arts - Main Web SiteThe elder whose house was attacked was said to have given a radio interview last week in which he accused the Islamists of "invading" the region and restricting the freedoms of locals.
Militia hit the elder's house in Doble, a town northeast of the Kenyan and south of the Ethiopian border, with a rocket and then cordoned it with bullets as necessary to keep neighbors from becoming helpful.
Last week, according to the Reuters AlertNet post, "Islamist fighters targeted video and music shops and ordered sellers of khat, narcotic leaves chewed by many Somali men, to leave the town or be killed."
Weigh that "why" against crime, disease, displacement, famine.
Earlier this month, Medecins Sans Frontieres pulled 87 staff, it's entire contingent, out of Somalia in the aftermath of the murder of three staff by a roadside bomb.
While the world may want a much improved basic living standard for Somalians and reduced civil strife, one may note that Islamists, warlords, and state security forces have a) probably achieved parity as regards the possession of useful arms [3, suggested] and b) advantage, of a sort, goes to the warrior with the most audacious and least predictable plan, and, just as in Sudan, that includes raids against lesser armed and practically undefended locations.
Unlike the roving bands of the Sudan, however, Islamists and warlords alike have agendas, the growth of which threatens to make them visible and vulnerable. For the time being, hit-and-run suits to promote control of affected populations.
1. Ahmed, Sarha. "Fighting kills two in Somali border town." Reauters AlertNet, February 25, 2008.
2. AFP. "'Doctors Without Borders' organisation pulls out of Somalia." afp.google.com, February 1, 2008.
Correspondence: James S. Oppenheim
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