By Michelle Shephard, The Star
MOGADISHU, SOMALIA—A man who has been called everything from a terrorist, a visionary, a clan elder, a religious scholar, a killer and a statesmen greets me on his driveway with a wave and a grin.
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys seems eager for visitors. House arrest does not agree with those who pride themselves as leaders, not captives.
It has been a decade since our last interview in Mogadishu, when he was the spiritual head of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which the George W. Bush administration warned was “Africa’s Taliban.”
Aweys, listed both by the U.S. and United Nations as global terrorist associated with Al Qaeda, hasn’t changed much in 10 years; his face is relatively unlined for a septuagenarian, his beard still dyed vibrant henna red, his opinion that Somalia should be governed by Islamic law unwavering.
But Somalia — and the world — has. Bush to Barack Obama to Donald Trump, four Somali presidents and seven prime ministers, the rise and (somewhat) decline of East Africa’s Al Qaeda branch, Al Shabab, the rise and (somewhat) decline of Daesh, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
Ask Somali government officials or community leaders what they think of Aweys and the word most often used, also accusingly, is “stubborn.”
I had been granted rare access last year on the condition that the story would not be published immediately. There were sensitive diplomatic negotiations underway with Qatar at the time — reportedly to provide Aweys sanctuary in Doha.
Aweys ostensibly could face terrorism charges for his association with Al Shabab, but a trial is unlikely. He is a prominent member of Somalia’s influential Habar Gadir, a subclan of Hiwaye, and the previous government was unwilling to risk the backlash if he were prosecuted or, if found guilty, sentenced to death.
The talks with Doha have since broken down and, according to a Somali security official, Aweys remains under house arrest. He has been in government custody since his 2013 surrender, which followed months of negotiations with clan elders and government officials.
At the time he left the Shabab, the group’s executive was fractured and Aweys’ life was threatened by leader Ahmed Godane. American Omar Hammami, who was wanted by the FBI for a bounty of $5 million, was among those dissidents who were assassinated by Godane’s men. (Godane was later killed by a U.S. drone in 2014).
Aweys claims he was not a “member” but merely “associated” with Al Shabab. “There’s a difference between supporting them and joining them. We supported them in that they’re not our enemies, but I didn’t join them,” he said, leaning forward on his plastic lawn chair. “They used to fight with our enemies so we supported that. I disagreed with some of their actions though.”
Aweys had once ruled a breakaway Islamist faction known as the Hizbul Islam that fought against Al Shabab. But in December 2010, the two groups officially merged.
He said he condemned the group’s killing of civilians, citing friends whom had been victims. But that’s easy to say while under house arrest. During his years with the Shabab, the group launched some of their most devastating assaults, including the attack at Kenya’s Westgate Mall, which killed 67.
Aweys was one of the public faces of Al Shabab and he did not condemn the deaths of innocents at the time. When asked why, Aweys at first tells me he used to read Italian Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci, and “the socialist movements used to kill anyone who was their enemy.”
When pressed further, he concedes that “it is not right to condemn 100 people to death when you’re trying to get one.”
Then why not speak out?
He continued to dodge the question, saying that Islam forbids such slaughter of innocents.
Why. Not. Speak. Out. At. The. Time?
“We were fighting a war and that is not wrong in itself, sometimes there are going to be crimes committed,” he said.
“In a military sense it is normal. … The government
is killing innocent people on the other side as well. So it’s not right … war allows for unbelievable things to happen.”
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