Somalia: Islamist opposition names hard liner as their leader

I'll say he's a hardliner. He has also been designated a terrorist under U.S. Executive Order 13224 and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 for his associations with al Qaeda.

He denies everything, of course.

The redbeard is a nice look, isn't it? He either has a "prophet complex" or has been on the hajj.

Somali opposition coalition, the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia (ARS), Tuesday named the hard-line Islamist cleric Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys as chairman, replacing Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who is seen as a moderate.

"We have named Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys as the chairman of the Alliance and we no longer recognize Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed as the legitimate leader of the alliance," Ismael Addow, a member of the alliance, told Somalia's Shabelle Radio by phone from Asmara, the Eritrean capital.

Aweys has been the spiritual leader of the Islamic Courts Union which controlled much of southern and central Somalia for the latter half of 2006 before they were driven out by a joint Ethiopian and Somali government forces. He is on the U.S. list of "Wanted Terrorists" and is now in exile in Asmara.

For his part Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed claims to still be in power.

More about Sheikh Aweys - back in 2006 he was denying that terror groups operated in Somalia. And in this 2007 Kevin Sites video he again denies the presence of 'foreigners" or al Qaeda in Somalia.

Today, he compares himself to Mandela and says Americans must "use their great wisdom and should not call a freedom fighter a terrorist." You notice he did not mention the JIHADIST!

Let there be no doubt. This man is a terrorist. Here's what he said last month prior to the signing of the Djibouti Agreement.

"We shall continue fighting until we liberate our country from the enemies of God"

Meanwhile the fighting continues apace with headlines like this Mortar attack kills two Ethiopians. and this, 5 children killed in crossfire.