ABSTRACT
The Da'awa institutes and the Islamic Sharia courts were the main components of the Islamic infrastructure that emerged in Somalia. The Supreme Council of the Islamic Courts founded a 400-strong militia based on combatants of the different courts. The formation of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in October 2004 and the anti-Islamist approach of President Abdullahi Yusuf led to confrontation between the Islamic courts and the TFG. In March 2006, fierce fighting broke out between the United States-backed coalition of Somalia warlords that had controlled the Mogadishu area and the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). The ICU had also established a fifteen-member executive council, headed by Sheikh Sharif that acted as an executive branch of government and implemented decisions. The ICU militia were also said to be advancing on Galkaayo, 465 miles north of Mogadishu. At the formation of the Islamic courts in Mogadishu, Aweys became the head of one of the most powerful courts in Mogadishu.
