Somali women hold copies of the Koran as they join thousands of others during a Map Somalia's Shabaab stage demo over Quran-burning

Map

Somalia's Shabaab stage demo over Quran-burning

Published on : 16 September 2010 - 9:55am | By RNW Africa Desk (Photo; Abdurashi Abdulle Abikar/AFP)

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• al-Shabaab
 
• Florida pastor
 
• Holy Quran
 
• Mogadishu
 
• Quran burning
 
• Somalia
 
• Terry Jones
 
• White House

Thousands gathered in a Mogadishu stadium Wednesday for a demonstration organised by the Al Qaeda-inspired group al-Shabaab to protest a now abandoned plan by a US church to burn copies of the Quran.

Florida pastor Terry Jones cancelled his plans at the weekend under pressure from the White House, but the Somali group posted pictures of individuals burning the holy Muslim book on its websites on Tuesday and called the protest.

Is al-Shabaab losing its popularity?

From our correspondent in Somalia

The name al-Shabaab became famous when Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia and managed to dislodge Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which used to control much of southern and central Somalia.

Al-Shabaab initially got tremendous support in Mogadishu when they claimed they had been dedicating their lives for the liberation of people and promised to restore order and bring back peace.

But nowadays there are more and more signs that their popularity is fading.

"I thought that the fighting would end if Ethiopian government withdrew its troops from Somalia. But al-Shabaab is still stoking the fighting” says Dahir Abdi, a former strong al-Shabaab henchman.

Ahmed Diriye Ali, spokesman for Hawiye Traditional Elders used to be a strong al-Shabaab supporter based in the islamist stronghold area of Bakara Market. He claims that the Somali conflict can only be solved by negotiations between all Somali warring sides. "But I doubt very much if al-Shabaab really intends to do this."

"The Americans are trying to hide these evil acts from the public but we know and we saw what they did," Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Rage, one of the insurgent group's leaders and its main spokesman, told the crowd.

"This will draw immediate retaliation from the billions of Muslims around the world," Rage said.

The stadium in the war-battered city was filled with orderly rows of protestors listening to radical Shabaab clerics and chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) and "Down with America".

"Today, brothers and sisters, we are here to voice our displeasure with this blatant desecration of our Quran by American church leaders," Rage said.

Thousands of Muslims worldwide demonstrated against Jones's plans to burn hundreds of copies of the Koran to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington in 2001.

The demonstrators in Mogadishu and at other smaller rallies organised in Shabaab-controlled areas of southern and central Somalia had placards that read: "Die and go to hell."

"Anti-American demonstrations are taking place in every part of the country. The aim is to show the enemy the number of angry Muslims who follow the Holy Quran they burned," Rage said.

"I saw some pictures that were posted on the Internet showing two white guys burning the Quran. You cannot imagine how my heart felt," said a demonstrator.

"We will kill Americans over this, we will make them regret it," said Shueyb Hasan, another 18-year-old demonstrator.

The Shabaab's overall leader, Sheikh Ahmed Abdi Godane "Abu Zubayr", released a message on September 11 in which he claimed the US pastor's plans were evidence that the West was hostile to all Muslims.

Shabaab fighters have been waging a fierce insurgency aimed at toppling the transitional federal government, which has the backing of the United States and most of the international community.

The embattled administration has owed its survival largely to an African Union deployment of soldiers from Uganda and Burundi, whom the Shabaab accuse of embarking on a Christian crusade against Muslim Somalia.

Source: AFP