Agence France Presse report

Mogadishu — Somalia’s fundamentalist Al-Itihad Al-Islam group is to transform itself into a political organisation, a senior member of the movement said here on Saturday. Addressing a press conference here, Al-Itihad Al-Islam’s executive committee member Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said his group would turn itself into an Islamic political party. The Moslem group has come to attention after heavy fighting erupted between them and Ethiopian forces, said to have invaded the Gedo region of southern Somalia on August 8 to flush out the organisation’s fighters it alleged were carrying out guerrilla attacks inside Ethiopia. The fighting culminated in calls here last week for an Islamic jihad, or holy war, against Ethiopia, supported by several Moslem groups, but opposed by others who maintain the current unrest has nothing to do with the promotion of Islam.

Sheikh Hassan, who is the group’s highest official in Mogadishu, added that the Al-Itihad Al-Islam group had lost 200 fighters in the clashes. He said Ethiopian forces lost many more of their troops, but did not specify how many. He charged that since August, Ethiopian forces had entered Somalia six times, during which they killed many people, destroyed towns and villages, and abducted people and took them across the border into Ethiopia. He accused Ethiopia of committing grave human rights violations and breaking international law by illegally entering Somali territory.

The sheikh, who is also responsible for Al-Itihad Al-Islam’s emergency humanitarian operations, demanded an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Ethiopian forces from the Gedo region on Somalia’s southern border with Ethiopia. He also demanded compensation for Somali lives and property destroyed during the four months of fighting, and appealed to international non-governmental organisations and UN agencies for emergency aid for those affected by the fighting. The sheikh denied the group in Somalia had any connections with the same group operating inside Ethiopia.