Sharif Sheikh Ahmed - Islamic Courts Union

Islamic Courts Union

After returning from overseas, Ahmed became involved in the ICU and was elected to head a small local sub-clan court in Jowhar. A few years later, a local gang in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, kidnapped a young student and demanded a ransom from his family in return for the boy's release. Ahmed helped secure the boys release. This incident was one of countless other kidnappings and killings perpetrated by armed groups in the Somali capital who exploited the disintegration of the central government. This event reportedly marked a turning point in the life of Sheikh Ahmed and propelled his further involvement with the ICU.

By 2004, Sheikh Ahmed had become one of the leading figures in the Mogadishu Islamic Courts. His closest friends and allies included Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, one of the founders of the ICU, and Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow", a man whom Washington alleges has connections with the Al-Qaeda network and fought in Afghanistan in 2001.

On 9 September 2006, under the auspices of Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, the former President of the Somali Transitional National Government, Sheikh Ahmed and several colleagues attended an AU ceremony in Sirte, Libya as ICU delegates, marking the seventh anniversary of a summit of African leaders. In an interview with Reuters and the BBC, Sheikh Ahmed suggested his delegation would seek the help of Libya and other African nations to bring about a rapprochement between the Islamic Courts Union and the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG). However, he reportedly arrived in Khartoum, Sudan 48 hours before the start of the conference between the Somali government and the ICU only to leave 24 hours later. Sheikh Ahmed said Ethiopia had been hostile to Somalia peace for more than 100 years, and reiterated a long-standing Islamist accusation that Ethiopian forces were intervening in Somalia. Ethiopia denied any of its troops were fighting in Somalia. However, arrangements for an Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)-led peacekeeping force did not materialize.

On 28 December 2006, after the defeat of the ICU's army, he committed himself to fight against the occupation forces—the Ethiopian forces and Puntland soldiers in southern Somalia. After the ICU's defeat in the Battle of Jilib and their abandonment of Kismayo, he fled towards the Kenyan border.

Before fleeing, Sharif lived with his wife and two children, Ahmad, aged 9 and Abdullah, who was a toddler, in a modest house in Mogadishu.

He met the U.S. Ambassador to Kenya for talks regarding cooperation with the TFG. He was under the protection of Kenyan authorities staying at a hotel in Nairobi.

On 1 February 2007, Sharif Ahmed was released from Kenyan police authorities. By 8 February, Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed went to Yemen where other ICU members are thought to had also gone.