Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union

A controversial Islamic movement brought a brief moment of peace to Mogadishu in 2006 after years of war. The Islamic Courts Union (ICU) came to power after defeating rapacious American-backed warlords. They had no unified ideology or leadership. Some were moderates, some were hardline Islamists. But they brought law and order to the capital unseen since civil war began in 1991. But their rule would only last for six months and from the ashes would emerge the radical militant group Al-Shabab. Photo: Somalia's Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) militia display their flag in front of Hotel Ramadan, in Mogadishu, 15, July 2006 (STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)