Somalis Fraught Under a Taliban-Style Rule

Somalis are being bogged down by rampant violence and debilitating religious edicts

[Mogadishu, Somalia]  In a street in north Mogadishu, three young kids squat near a decomposing human body as dogs run to and fro.

When Al-Shabab insurgents erupted on the Somali scene three years ago, most people welcomed them, hoping their Islam would restore peace and bring better tidings to this east African nation that has been torn by conflict since 1991.

But the ascension of Al-Shabab, followers of strict Saudi Arabian-inspired Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, have forcibly imposed their intolerant religious laws across the large swaths of the country they control.

Already worn down by unstable government, continuous violence, famine, inflation and even piracy, the Somalis, most of whom practice a moderate Sufi form of Islam, are facing religious repression reminiscent of the Taliban rule in Afghanistan. The Al-Shabab, although not officially in power, widely use executions, floggings and threats to force their Islam on the population. It has banned all forms of entertainment, forced women to wear heavy veils and even dictated men’s hair styles. The violence in the streets has had a particularly harsh impact on children.

Pediatricians say young children in Mogadishu are experiencing stress because they are witnessing horrific images like dogs ravaging corpses in the streets or are constantly subject to loud explosions.

“Most of the children we treat are not sick with disease but are suffering from stress,”
Pediatrician Mohamud Ahmed told The Media Line. “Their parents tell us the kids have frequent nightmares because of the terrible images they see,” he says, as two women with young children wait patiently for his treatment.

About half the population of Mogadishu has fled their homes. The city itself is torn between the failing Transitional Federal Government and rival warlords. Al-Shabab is the dominant group in its quest to topple the Western-back government and impose strict Islamic law nationwide but faces competition from Sufi groups who seek a more moderate form of Islam.

Daily, Al-Shabab launches attacks on security forces, civilians, aid workers and peacekeepers. Sports activities, cinemas and weddings featuring jazz – once a main source of amusement for the impoverished country – have all been banned on the pretense they were un-Islamic. But it is also an effort to lure the subsequently disgruntled, bored and unemployed youth into their ranks.

“I’m sure their behavior cannot be commendable in the eyes of the Somalis,” Abdinur Naleye, a Somali university lecturer in Mogadishu told The Media Line. “How can they please the Somalis while they are massacring them and forcing on them something they don’t want?”

Women became the main target of the drive to implement harsh laws, by barring them from working and ordering them to wear ‘Kaki’ type veils and skirts covering the entire body. They risked being flogged if they defy these orders.

Rebels have also ordered men and women to travel on separate buses, a ruling that did not sit well with most Somalis. Later, they decreed that men and women were allowed to travel in one cart, but prohibited them from sharing a bench.

“What Al-Shabab is doing is awful,’” Abshiro Hussein, 60, tells The Media Line at a bus station in Mogadishu. “We have been living here for years, but never experienced anything like their unacceptable rules,” she added, citing executions and ad-hoc court rulings.

Hussein says that she was beaten for wearing a soft textile usually worn by elderly Somali women.

Sheikh Nor Barud ‘Gurhan,’ chairman of Somalia’s religious leaders, said many of Al-Shabab’s verdicts are illegal and even those that are lawful can, by both Islamic and international law, only be implemented by a government.

“According to the Islam, no group can carry out the sentences that they are implementing,” Gurhan, told The Media Line via phone from Nairobi, Kenya. “Only governments can mete out sentences. What they are doing is out of ignorance of the Islamic religion.”

Somali religious leaders who asked not to be named said the rebels have established ad-hoc courts in the territories under their control, where self-proclaimed judges sentence whomever they suspect as their enemy to death, amputations or death by stoning.

Somalis had often sought solace in jazz music at weddings and youngsters frequented cinemas as a favorite past time. Both these activities have been criminalized in the areas under the militants’ control and many Somalis feel they are being mentally suffocated.

“I feel like I’m under arrest,” Abduqadir Osman, 18, tells The Media Line as he sits bored at his house. “We have no cinemas, no football or any entertainment.”

Al-Shabab enforcers twice beat Osman because of his hairstyle which did not conform to a modest religious style. The rebels have ordered men to shave moustaches but not their beards. Those who violate these rulings will become a target of their justice system.

Sheikh Ibrahim, a senior Al-Shabab official, told reporters that men should also “cut the pants to the knee,” in reference to a trendy style worn by Somali men.

Recently, Al-Shabab ordered a ban on English and science teachers in some schools in areas under their control.

“They’re destroying our culture and its origins,” Abdinacim Abdi, a Somali student based in Mogadishu told The Media Line. He also levied criticism at the weak TFG. “The so-called government also does nothing, except collect money from around the world.”

Teachers say recruit-hungry insurgent units have decimated their classrooms as they entice youth to join their “jihad” holy war.

“We have very severe problems now. We see our students being lured into war,” a principal at a Mogadishu school, who asked not to be named, told The Media Line. “We can’t even ask them to leave the kids alone and allow them to be just pupils, because they will accuse us of being enemies of Islam, and may kill you.”

During the time of the ousted warlords, Somalis were vocal about their politics in tea shops, but now, anyone who criticizes the militants will be described as an apostate and killed.

“Freedom has already gone,” Abdiaziz Africa, a journalist at government run Radio Mogadishu says.

“The Islamists have knives to kill all the innocents. They consider all people who are not like them to be infidels and non-Muslim, and authorize to shed their blood for no reason,” Africa says, displaying text messages with death threats on his mobile phone.

Dozens of journalists have fled the country after receiving threats, mainly from Al-Shabab militants. Before the rebels seized control, local radio stations used to air balanced reports, giving a voice to all sides, but rampant killing have brought about a compulsory bias.

The main obstacle to advancing the rebels’ strict imposition of Shari’a is a group called Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca, a moderate Sufi group that started fighting the strict Wahhabi Shari’a. The group managed to force A-Shabab out of the Galgadud region, making it peaceful and stable.

“We’re committed to fighting those who are lying against the Islamic religion,” Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abu-Yusuf, spokesman of Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca told The Media Line.

Human-rights groups accuse the warring sides of violating rights of innocent people.

“No side cares about human life,” Ali Yasin Gedi, vice chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman rights group told The Media Line. “We call for them to respect the innocent.”

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The Media Line