Kismayu,(insidesomalia.org)- A group of Islamic Courts officials are holding private meetings in parts of southern Somalia, an Islamist official and inside sources said today.

Mohamed-Amin Abdullahi,a member of the Eritrea-based Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), told reporters that the meetings will go on for a few days in Dhobley, Lower Jubba region.

"The Islamic Courts is its own group...they have the right to hold private consultations in whatever regions they are in," Mohamed-Amin said, while indicating that the current meeting is related to efforts to "create an administration."

He did not elaborate further, but sources close to the meeting told Reporters that the Islamic Courts' Dhobley discussions are centered on the issue of Lower Jubba region.

Some officials want Islamist militiamen in the jungles of Lower Jubba to take control of the whole region including Kismayu, the sources said. But other officials want the group to remain in the jungles and continue covert operations.

No decision has been reached in the deliberations yet.

Last week, government troops and allied clan militias in the port of Kismayu, the capital of Lower Jubba, were placed on high alert following threats of invasion issued by Islamist officials in Dhobley.

The Kismayu group, who are nominally allied to the Somali government, vowed to defend the strategic port town from an Islamist attack.

Ahmed "Sandhere" Abdi, the deputy governor of Lower Jubba, told local reporters on Saturday that "there are no problems in Kismayu."

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