Islamist leader says Ethiopia’s Meles is ungrateful to Somalia

Aug 16, 2006 (MOGADISHU) — Somali Islamist leader said that the Ethiopian Premier Minister is ungrateful to Somalia because he was educated in Mogadishu, and once lived in Mogadishu and now he is plotting to conquer Somalia.

The chairman of the Islamic council courts, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, told Somalis that plots were being hatched to conquer Somalia, region after region, clan after clan, with the final aim of making it part of Ethiopia.

According to Somali Union of Islamic Courts website Qaadisiya, he said those carrying out this plot were people who had been educated in Somalia, but who were paying it back today by torturing Somalia.

“Meles Zenawi, as you know, was educated in Mogadishu, and once lived in Mogadishu. The Siyad Barre regime spent huge amount of funds on him. But today, you can see how he is paying it back, openly, in front of the international community,” said Sheikh Sharif.

Sharif was speaking in a ceremony held at Mogadishu’s Taleex neighbourhood to inaugurate a new Islamic Court christened the Al-Nasr Islamic court.

The ceremony was attended by several officials. The court has been set up for the Dir clan, a dominant clan in Somaliland.

(ST)