MOGADISHU, SOMALIA — Their leaders slipped out of this capital under cover of darkness. Their plum jobs are gone. Their former offices were the first looted in a spasm of vandalism last week.
On Monday, these mid-level officials and fighters of Somalia's now-defunct Islamic Courts Union got a renewed offer of amnesty from Somalian Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi, who also set a three-day deadline for residents of Mogadishu to turn in their guns.
But for the Islamists left behind in Somalia's long-troubled capital, the ordeal was not over. While top Islamic officials escaped south toward Kenya last week, thousands of employees, fighters and other Islamic courts supporters remained trapped in Mogadishu, struggling to comprehend the new reality.
Once part of the city's elite, many of the Islamist militias' backers have gone into hiding, fearful of retribution or worried that enemies might finger them as Islamic courts collaborators to newly arrived Somalian soldiers or Ethiopian troops allied with the 2-year-old transitional government -- or the warlord-led clan militias reasserting control in the city.
Weary Mogadishu residents Monday tried to return to normality after a week of turmoil and a three-day Eid al-Adha holiday. Shops and offices reopened. People ventured out on the streets.
Only a few soldiers could be seen patrolling the congested roads or guarding government buildings. Ethiopian troops seen in public generally drew large crowds of Somalian onlookers, who stood in groups, observing the foreign soldiers from afar.
Most of the city was quickly adapting to the fall of the Islamists, with residents resuming activities once discouraged. Cinemas reopened. Children played soccer again on the beach. Vendors of khat, a leafy stimulant, resumed daily deliveries in the marketplace.
But ongoing and onetime supporters of the Islamic courts remained largely in the background. Some still defended the courts and predicted a resurgence of the once-powerful alliance of Islamic leaders. However, others, former backers, insisted that they had been misled and exploited by an organization that fell victim to infighting and greed.
"It was a black day for Somalia," said one mid-level courts official, referring to Thursday, when Islamist fighters abandoned Mogadishu to advancing troops from Ethiopia and Somalia's transitional government.
"I'm still not sure what happened," he said, afraid to have his name or former position revealed.
