Somali Islamist leader sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys on Monday reiterated his call for the withdrawal of African Union peacekeepers in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Aweys, who heads Hezbul Islam, a Somali opposition faction, was speaking at a press conference in Mogadishu only a day after media reports said that he was seriously wounded or might have been killed in fighting between his group's fighters and others loyal to a pro-government militia.
Although he did not speak specifically about his alleged death or injury, Aweys, the radical Islamist leader, reiterated his call for the African Union peacekeeping forces to leave the war-torn country and the implementation of the Islamic law in Somalia.
"The only way this war can stop is the withdrawal of foreign forces from Somalia and the implementation of the sharia law in the country."
Aweys returned from exile in the east African country of Eritrea last April to topple the Somali government led by his former ally and now his archrival Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the Somali President.
Both Aweys and Ahmed co-chaired the ousted Islamic Courts Union (ICU) which ruled much of south and central Somalia in the latter half of 2006 before the movement was ousted by allied Ethiopian and Somali government forces.
Aweys, wanted by the United States for links with terrorism, also said that the fighting in Somalia was forced on his group and accused some foreign countries of having a hand in the ongoing conflict in the country.
Source: Xinhua
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