Last US-backed warlord surrenders to Somali Islamists

[MrPrax]

Last US-backed warlord surrenders to Somali Islamists

The last Somali warlord left fighting Islamists in Mogadishu surrendered yesterday after two days of battles that killed more than 140 people.

Abdi Awale Qaybdiid is believed to have fled after scores of his troops handed over their weapons. "It has become necessary to surrender and give peace a chance," a militiaman loyal to Qaybdiid said.

He was the last of an alliance of warlords backed by the United States which claimed to have formed an anti-terrorism coalition. The group had been fighting the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), a group of Islamists which wants to bring sharia law to the whole of Somalia - a country that has been lawless and leaderless since 1991.

The US claimed that the UIC was harbouring suspected al-Qa'ida terrorists. In an effort to prevent Somalia becoming a "safe haven" for al-Qa'ida, the US gave support to the very same warlords that had driven American troops out of Somalia in 1993 after 18 US Army Rangers were killed in an incident later made into a Hollywood film.

Independent

So in other words, another Bush Administration failure.

They seem to have a heck of a time with this al-Qa'ida outfit, don't they?

[Selatius]

1. There were no sides worth backing anyway

Those warlords were thugs. The fact that they're secular thugs as opposed to religious ones does not change the fact that they're thugs.

[MrPrax]

2. You got that right...

But it does seem that since al-qaida is numero uno, that efforts to prevent it's spread in the world would have commanded a higher attention of the * Admin.

But your point well taken...both are scum with no other intention than to prey upon the Somalian people.