Somalis Sense Glimmer Of Hope

For hundreds of young men, the promise of a brighter future and the Somali government's victory over a fundamentalist Islamic movement were symbolized by a flickering blue screen in a dusty Mogadishu cinema hall.

"This is freedom and entertainment," Ahmed Abdi Ali said Tuesday as an Indian movie about a torrid love triangle played in the background — exactly the kind of film that was banned by the militant fighters. "The Islamic Courts are gone."

For the first time in more than a decade, an internationally recognized government is operating in Mogadishu after driving out the movement that wanted to rule Somalia by the Quran. Although trouble is always lurking in this violent, gun-infested country, the reign of the widely feared Islamic Courts appears to be over.

The group had imposed its strict interpretation of Islam on Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia since it took power in June, banning movies and Western music and terrifying residents into submission with the threat of floggings and public executions.

On Tuesday, Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said his forces, backed by Ethiopian troops with tanks and MiG fighter jets, had neutralized the Islamists and forced them to give up or scatter into the bush. He said he does not expect any more major fighting.

"Maybe small fights can take place, but we are trying to destroy them," he said.

Still, bringing peace to Somalia is an enormous, daunting task. Until Ethiopia stepped in two weeks ago, the government controlled just one town, and many Somalis have little confidence in the administration's ability to pacify — much less rebuild — the country alone.

And the country is, indeed, in ruins. Mogadishu is a destroyed, desperate city after 20 ferocious years of civil war. Lamp posts that haven't been illuminated in years are pocked with bullet holes and shrapnel. The once-grand cathedrals, courthouses and homes have been bombed into rubble or dismantled brick by brick.

Gunshots ring out daily on city streets, and three heavily armed warlords who once ruled the city are back in town now that the Islamists are gone. Many fear the warlords are gathering their forces and might try to challenge the government.

Perhaps the most insidious threat is from an Iraq-style guerrilla war, which the Islamic group says it's planning with fighters whom it claims are still hiding in Mogadishu.

"We will fight the Ethiopian forces in the country," Abdirahman Mudey, a spokesman for the Council of Islamic Courts, told The Associated Press on Tuesday in a telephone interview, reiterating his group's claim that Ethiopia is occupying Somalia.

The government says the first step to establishing order in Somalia is disarming the public, but the country is awash in weapons: Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns, hand grenades and mortars are readily available at the Bakaara Market in downtown Mogadishu.

"These weapons are our business, our work," said Farhan Geede Hussein, a weapons dealer at the market. "We bought them, so it's impossible for us to just hand them over."

Gedi has given residents here three days, starting Tuesday, to voluntarily surrender their weapons at two locations — the old seaport and Villa Baidoa, which was a government building under the regime of military dictator Siad Barre, who was ousted in 1991. But not one person was seen giving up arms at either site Tuesday during two separate visits, hours apart.

Ethiopian troops who were standing outside the crumbling white stone walls of Villa Baidoa said nobody had arrived and refused to allow reporters inside the complex. At the seaport, a handful of people were milling around hoping to watch the disarmament, but left disappointed.

"No one is here," said Mohamed Ali, 28, gesturing across the seaport's rock-strewn road leading to the infamous, shark-infested water. "No one is even here to collect the guns."

Somalia has been without effective government since 1991, when clan-based warlords overthrew Barre and turned on each other. The government was formed two years ago with the held of the United Nations, but was weakened by internal rifts.

The intervention of Ethiopia prompted a military advance that was a stunning turnaround for the government. But many Somalis resent the Ethiopians' presence. Somalia, a Muslim country, and Ethiopia, with its large Christian population, fought a brutal war in 1977.

The Islamic group's strict interpretation of Islam drew comparisons to the Taliban, although many Somalis credited the council with bringing a semblance of order to a country that has seen little more than anarchy for more than a decade.

But their swift overthrow by bolstered Somali forces allowed men like Ali, who crowded the Mogadishu movie hall Tuesday, at least two hours of letting loose.

"This is a movie about two women chasing one man," he said, his eyes transfixed on the screen. "If I couldn't watch this, I'd probably be sleeping right now."