Only a matter of time?

The green mosque, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

The BBC reports this morning that the Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia are demanding the release from prison of a muslim cleric Sheik Mohamed in Somaliland. They have said that if Somaliland does not release this man, they will 'forcefully free' him. This man is under arrest for involvement in terrorist activities such as planning to undermine the Parliamentary elections last September by letting off bombs in Hargeisa.

Apparetly some fake pictures were put on an Islamic website showing this man being tortured in order to stir up unrest in Somaliland. It had the desired effect, and like in so many Islamic countries these days, a few people took to the streets to protest, easily roused.

In the meantime, Somaliland Times reports that the commander of the (UIC= ICU) militia that seized Kismayo, Hassan Turki, confirmed that the strategic objective of the ICU is to bring the whole former Somalia including Somaliland under its control. And if in the past there were rumors linking the ICU to Al-Qaida, Turki didn’t put them to rest. He told a crowd of supporters in Kismayo on Tuesday that the “foreign faces” they saw among the ranks of the ICU militia were volunteer fighters from other Muslim countries.

These Islamic militiamen*, armed to the hilt with weapons from Eritrea, Yemen and Saudi Arabia are making inexorable progress in conquering Somalia and it is surely only a matter of time before they turn their attentions to Somaliland. Every week which goes by during which no progress is made on achieving international reognition is a week which brings closer the possibility of Somaliland's annihilation at the hands of their Muslim and Somali brothers from down south.

And if this happens, will the West even notice? I doubt it.