18/11/06 (B370) Sh. Network. Somalie : les tribunaux islamiques mettent le feu aux sac de Khat. Un mort !(En anglais – Info lecteur)

Somalia:
One dead in a demonstration against burning Khad as Fresh ones arrive in
Par Aweys Osman Yusuf

Mogadishu
16, Nov.06 ( Sh.M.Network) A plane carrying the controversial “Khad”,
narcotic plants commonly used in Somalia, has landed at Mogadishu’s
international airport on Thursday.

21 sacks
filled in with bundles of Khad on board three minibuses were burnt at an Islamic
Courts checkpoint on the outskirts of the capital Mogadishu on Wednesday after
the Khad was imported at no.50 airfield from Hargeysa, the capital city of
the secessionist government of Somaliland.

Khad traders,
Medina aw-Ali and Abdirahman, said the Khad set on inferno was worth $40,000
Alleging they had the Islamic Courts permission to import Khad at the capital
but were intercepted by Islamist fighters who persisted on burning it.

The fresh
imported Khad still lies in Mogadishu airport where it is uncertain if it
would get into the town or if it would be burnt.
The news comes as hundreds of protesters against Islamic Courts over Khad
are matching throughout southern part the city chanting anti-Islamist slogans.

Protesters,
most of them Khad chewers, have been shouting “it was unfair for the
Courts to abolish Khad or burn business products worth hundred thousands of
dollars”.

One is
reported killed in the protest after it turned out violent and gunmen fired
at the crowd.

The Union
of Islamic Courts leaders were not available for comments as some of them
have even switched off their cell phones so that reporters might not bother
them.

There
are ongoing negotiations between the Islamic Courts and Khad traders over
the issue.

Conflicting
reports say the khad that is now in airport will be set of fire like the one
burnt yesterday.

Somalia’s
Islamists are in control of central and southernmost of the country including
the capital Mogadishu.