For a long time, many people claimed that the ICU - TFG war is an Eritrea vs Ethiopia proxy war. Now, there is no dispute that Aweys' ICU is under full control of the Eritrean Orthodox Christian government. When Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) Chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed exposed the role of the Eritrean government inside the ICU, some Somalis were surprised because we consumed and actually believed the ICU propaganda that Eritrea is standing up for the freedom of Somali people from Ethiopian invasion. All Somalis knew how foolish it was for ICU leadership to wage jihad on Ethiopia by working with the Orthodox-Christian controlled government of Eritrea. All Somalis knew how foreign and extreme some of the policies of the Aweys led Al Shabaab has become. All Somalis knew the "Qabiil factor" because the Habar Gidirs are dominating the ARS, the opposition media and the Al Shabaab movement. Now that the ARS chairman exposed that Aweys is as guilty as TFG and Eritrea is the enemy of Somalia as much as Ethiopia, our patience for Aweys is almost done.

People of Somalia are independent and freedom loving people who do not want to be puppets of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox governments. Otherwise, we would not have stood up against common external enemies time and time again despite our internal differences. Secondly, if some Somalis need to ally with one of the two Orthodox sides, common sense will force us to ally with the country we share more than 800 miles of border, not another Orthodox country far in the Red Sea using us as puppets. It is time for the people of Somalia to come together against the two Orthodox countries who are using our people and our land as battleground for their politics.

It is sad that Somalia wasted 2 years by ignoring the big Eritrean elephant in the room. In fact, More than 10 years ago when the Eritrean & Ethiopian government were friends, Eritrea helped Ethiopia to kill hundreds of Somalis in battles of the central north regions. In addition, BBC and UN Security council reports showed us that Eritrea has been trying to use Somalia as a way to make Ethiopia weak by sending weapons and funds to anti-Ethiopia groups in Somalia for more than five years. All of these actions have made Somalis wartorn and fighting, killing each other for years. All of this has been overlooked by our people but Sheikh Aweys can not expect Somalis around the world to cover their eyes forever when he is the puppet of Eritrea. We have supported al Shabaab for many years but if Sheikh Aweys is hijacking the movement, we can not continue this support. When Sheikh Aweys made deals three years ago to use Eritrea as a transit point to get funds from Egypt and Qatar for his militia, he proved his leadership ability and his ICU bringing relative peace in Mogadishu quickly won the hearts & minds of many Somalis. If Aweys wants to continue getting the support of all Somalis, he has to prove that he is not controlled by the Orthodox Eritreans anymore. Otherwise, he is as much a puppet as the TFG. If he continues the path he started by being the puppet of Eritrea, he will soon lose all support. Recent news reports show that Aweys (the reportedly low level ARS member) is planning to fire our leader ARS chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. How can a supposedly low level ARS fire the top chairman? Such a move will be the final proof that Eritrean government makes all decisions inside the ICU-ARS leadership. In that case, even the numerous media outlets controlled by Aweys' Habar Gidir clan will not save him from turning all Abgaals and other Hawiye against him forever.

by Mohamed Hussein, mohammed_hns@yahoo.com