Somalis hope that the holy fasting moth of Ramadan would bring a let up to the months-long fierce fighting. (Reuters)
MOGADISHU — As fighting continues unabated, war-weary Somalis voice hope that the holy fasting moth of Ramadan would bring a let-up to the months-long fierce fighting ravaging their homeland. "In Islam, it is totally wrong to fight during the holy month," housewife Kasho Ahmed told Reuters, Friday, September 14
Ahmed said she prays to God everyday to end the bloodshed in her homeland.
Ahmed’s remarks came a few hours after the killing of two police officers and four civilians in an attack on a police patrol in the war-torn capital Mogadishu.
On Thursday, September 13, the interim government lifted a dusk-to-dawn curfew that had been in place since June.
The move was meant to give some much-needed relief to the one million or so residents of Mogadishu during the holy fasting month, which started on Thursday in most countries.
During past Ramadans, Somalis go out in the evening to pray, eat at restaurants, and share meals overnight in family homes.
However, this year the raging war prevented many Somalis from organizing outdoor Iftar (fast breaking meal) banquets and many of the activities marking the holy month.
Mogadishu has been ravaged by violence since Ethiopian and Somali troops ousted the Islamic Courts that restored rare law and order for six months after routing a US-backed alliance of warlords in 2006.
The capital has plunged into a deadly vicious cycle of violence which has so far killed up to 1,300 civilians and displaced more than 400,000, according to Human Rights Watch.
Somalia has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre, which touched off a deadly power struggle that has defied numerous attempts to restore peace.
Pessimistic
Many Somalis still pessimistic about any improvement in the security situation.
"I don’t think the groups will stop fighting during Ramadan, because those who do not respect human life will not respect Ramadan," 38-year-old Mogadishu resident Osman Muhammed Mudey said.
Only a day before the start of Ramadan, Somali opposition leaders convening in the Eritrean capital Asmara announced the formation of a new alliance for liberating Somalia from the Ethiopian troops.
The alliance also declared the Ethiopian-backed Somali interim government an enemy.
The leader of the new alliance would be announced Friday at the end of the conference.
It is widely expected that Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the former leader of the Executive Council of the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts of Somalia, would be announced a chairman for the new entity.
Housewife Fatuma Ali said the formation of the new alliance offers her little hope of a lull in the violence.
"Since the Asmara groups decided to liberate the country from the Ethiopians, I don’t think fighting will stop, even though it is Ramadan," she said.