MUSLIM SCHOLARS OFFER SOMALIA MEDIATION

The International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) is ready to mediate between feuding Somali parties to help stanch the bloodletting in the country, urging Arab or Muslim peacekeepers to replace Ethiopian occupation forces.
“IUMS is ready to mediate between the warring Somali parties to save Muslim lives and achieve reconciliation,” it said in a statement.
The Dublin-based body, chaired by prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, urged all Somali parties to rise up to the challenge. “Enough with 16 years of a ferocious civil war,” it said. “We call on all parties to immediately bring this war to a cessation and strive for an all-inclusive reconciliation.”
The Muslim scholars hit out at the interim government for enlisting the support of regional military giant Ethiopia to unseat the Supreme Islamic Courts of Somalia (SICS), which rose to power last year and brought long-lost stability. “This is an illegitimate act under Islam,” it said, adding “It would pose grave dangers for the future of the Muslim nation of Somalia.”
In December, the interim government forces and better-equipped Ethiopian troops routed the SICS in a two-week war. Since then, Somalia has plunged into an abyss of violence unmatched even at the climax of its civil war.
The Muslim scholars called for sending immediate relief aid for thousands of civilians caught in the raging fighting in Somalia. “The task should not be left to Western parties with malicious agendas.”