Ahlu Sunnah and the collapse of power deal with TFG

7 May 7, 2010 - 1:16:24 AM Confusion and uncertainty grips a power-sharing agreement signed between Somalia’s weak transition federal government and Ahlu Sunnah Wal-Jamaa, a moderate Sufi Islamist movement that has been added to the misery of Somalia’s dark history of war.   Founded in 1991 from the splinter of the Islamic Scholars Assembly of Somalia, Ahlu Sunna Wal-Jamaa got its political and military prominence in 2008, when it took up arms against hardline Al-Shabaab, which embarked on mission to desecrate the tombs of the country's Sufi saints The moderate Sufi movement has been fighting the radical group in central Somalia and of late, its fighters were involved in joint military operation with the Somali government troops against insurgent forces in the restive capital, Mogadishu. The political transformation of the group begun on 15 March 2010, when Sheikh Muhammad Sheikh Hassan, the group's spiritual leader led a section of his loyal followers in signing a power-sharing agreement with the Somali government in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. According to officials, the western-backed government, which is holed up in few blocks of Mogadishu and guarded by some 5,300 AU peacekeeping troops, wants to spread its wings in south and central regions where reign of powerful insurgents flourish. The Sufi sect was promised to be allocated a number of ministerial and military posts within the transitional Somali government under the agreement in return with maximum support in the fight against the insurgents. To 'officially formulate' the agreement, Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed on Thursday 6 May appointed Abdulkarim Yussuf Adan from ASJ, the deputy Somali military commander. However, Sheikh Muhammad Sheikh Hassan immediately held a press conference in central Somali town of Dhusamareb, the administrative capital of Galgadud to denounce the agreement over ‘foreign element interference’ “The agreement was infiltrated by power-hungry politician and warlords who are not part of the TFG and Ahlu Sunnah,” he said. “We directed our delegation in Mogadishu to walk out of the talks and return to Galgadud…after signing agreement we warned against any foreign interference before it is implemented and this is what we have warned,” he added. Confidential reports that reached Garowe Online suggest that the ASJ chairman was infuriated by the interference from politician Ahmed Abdisalan Haji Adan and ex-Mogadishu warlord Mohammed Qanyare. The two are said to have found their way into the power-sharing deal and make some changes to suit their interest. Since its inception in Djibouti in 2009, Sheikh Sharif-led government, which is also a product of western-brokered power-sharing arrangement, has been plagued by internal rift that puts his administration in awkward position in front of powerful insurgency. Many analysts however, argue that Sheikh Sharif is worried of Ahlu Sunnah supremacy in Somalia once the insurgency is eliminated from the political picture. GAROWE ONLINE