Another young Swedish Somali has died while fighting in Somalia’s civil war. Both Swedish and Somali governments are concerned that there is a flow of volunteers from Sweden to join the radical al-Shabab militia. One of the places where such groups recruit is the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby.
‘We thought at first that Al-Shabab was a youth movement, but that’s not the case. Now I think they are terrorists’ says one of a group of friends hanging out in the central square of Rinkeby
‘These kids, it’s the older guys who run things and do these things, but they brainwash the young ones and say to them, you’re al-shabab, go and fight’ adds another man.
Thousands have fled the decades of fighting in war-torn Somalia and found their way to Sweden. Now some young Swedish-Somalis are returning to take part in the ongoing civil war. Al-Shabab was once a youth wing of the Union of Islamic Courts, but split off a couple of years ago to pursue a guerilla war against the new transitional government, which other members of the Islamic Courts now participate in. Al-Shabab literally mans ‘the youth’ and the group has been linked to Al-Qaida and has a similar focus on jihad, or holy war.
‘There are many, but they don’t dare actually come forward and say that, we are Al-Shabab, but there are many who support them.’ The man was asked whether he supports them. ‘Yes, sometimes, you can say that when they do something that seems good, but but sometimes you don’t like them’.
Kadafi Hussein is a youth leader at the Community Centre that sits beside Rinkeby central square. He says that once a man stood outside the Centre and offered some youths plane tickets to the Somali capital Mogadishu and said that they should go and defend their religion.
‘There were four youths. He talked about jihad and what was happening in Somalia. That it is right to go there, that if they didn’t have tickets and stuff then he could help. He was from Al-Shabab.’
The four young men in this case said no. But others have said yes, and gone to fight. Some are dead, others disappeared. Friends and relatives noticed that their behaviour changed, that they cut themselves off from their family. Eventually they vanished.
‘Lately he became worse and started to isolate himself, despite the fact that his studies were going better and he had met a girl, who he was going to marry one week before I found out that he was dead.’ His mother relates that the last she heard of him was an email saying goodbye. After a while an unknown man rang her from Somalia saying that her son had done his duty and was now in paradise.
‘I’ve got no explanation why of who or what it was that forced him to do this. Why? Why did he?’
This mother wants to be anonymous, as did several other people with similar stories, who did not want their voices recorded. Their sorrow is to great and some are also scared.
The Swedish Security Police Service (SÄPO) say that around 20 youths have gone to Somalia to take part in war or train there. A handful have died and around ten are still involved in the civil war. Säpo are also worried that interest in volunteering for such activity is increasing in Sweden, and that the effects may be also felt at home.
‘What we are worried about is them developing a network, with experience and training, in place in Somalia, which can be used in Sweden if and when they return. If their aims change, it would be people like this, with tried and tested experience, who would carry out any assassination attempt,’ says Malena Rembe, chief analyst in Säpo’s anti-terrorist unit.
Source: Sveriges Radio
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