Somali Islamists Saturday named a firebrand cleric wanted by the US for alleged links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network as the head of their new parliament.
Officials said Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys -- a wanted "terrorist" in the US -- had been chosen to lead the Council of Islamic Courts (CIC) which will serve as a parliament for regions under the courts' control.
The appointment came as the Islamic courts shore up their control of Magadishu and outlying towns following the dramatic victory of their militia fighters over a US-backed warlord alliance here earlier this month.
Aweys founded the capital's first Islamic court and is believed to have orchestrated the Islamic takeover. He has been operating in the central Galgudud region where he has set up sharia or Islamic tribunals.
He has been designated a "terrorist" by the US and is subject to US sanctions for alleged ties to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the US.
His suspected terror links were a key reason Washington backed the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT), which was formed in February by warlords who say the Islamists are harboring extremists.
A senior official who attended a meeting of Somalia's Joint Islamic Courts in Mogadishu's Ramadan hotel here Saturday said 88 delegates had been chosen to sit in the CIC, which will legislate and oversee the courts in the Horn of Africa nation.
"The former head of the JIC, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, will be the chairman of the council's executive committee, which will be in charge of day-to-day running of the Islamic courts," a senior cleric said on condition of anonymity.
Two other hardline clerics, Omar Iman Abubakar and Abdullahi Ali Afrah, were named as deputy chairmen while Muhamoud Sheikh Ibrahim Suleh -- who declared jihad or "holy war" against the US-backed warlords -- became secretary general.
A key leader in the fighting, Lower Shabelle Governor Yusuf Mohamed Siad, was named deputy head of the executive committee, effectively putting his region under the control of the courts.
Somali watchers said the move fell short of declaring Somalia an Islamic republic, but gave indications that the Islamists were determined to exert their control across the violence-wracked country of about 10 million people.
"This is one step short of calling for the official establishment of the Islamic Republic of Somalia," said Ahmed Hassan, a Somali democracy advocate.
Early this month, militia loyal to the city's Islamic courts seized the Somali capital after ousting a US-backed warlord alliance following four months of fighting that saw more than 360 deaths and more than 2,000 wounded.
After defeating the warlords, the Islamists have vehemently denied having any links to al-Qaeda or terrorism and have insisted they are interested only in restoring law and order in Somalia.
The courts and the powerless transitional government based in Baidoa, about 250km northwest of the capital, on Thursday signed a mutual recognistion pact in Khartoum, paving the way for future peace talks.
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