Somalis grow fearful of Islamists
Public anger at the recent
stoning of a 13-year-old girl in Somalia shows the growing
resentment towards radical Islamists who have gained control of much
of the south and centre of the country.
Insurgents from the militant group al-Shabab are seen as
authoritarian and unaccountable - unlike the Islamists who were in
control of the capital, Mogadishu, in 2006.
Asha Ibrahim Dhuhulow was stoned to death for adultery in the
southern port city of Kismayo, which was taken control by al-Shabab
and its allies in August.
Her 62-year-old aunt told the BBC that the teenager had in fact been
raped by three armed men - and she took Asha to the police station
to report it.
Several days later, after two suspects had been arrested, she was
asked to return to the station with her niece.
To her surprise the girl was taken into custody too.
"I tried to speak to the police but they said they were not
talking," she said.
Three days later, after Asha had been tried in an Islamist court,
she was stoned to death.
"They said that the girl had chatted up these men and had confessed
to adultery," she said.
But the aunt said the authorities clearly failed to notice her age,
how mentally disturbed she was by her experience, or her history of
mental illness.
"She was only 13 years old. I have got her card from Hagarder
refugee camp which has her age on it. She might have looked a bit
older, but you could tell her age by talking to her," she said.
Law and order
Other critics point to the lack of lawyers, witnesses or appeal
process.
The Islamists were reported to have announced their verdict the day
before the stoning from cars with loudspeakers.
But Asha's aunt was not informed of the court's decision - despite
repeated visits to the police station.
"I was not even told that she was to be killed, I just heard it from
people after it happened.
"I don't know what crime she committed other than being raped; and I
was not even allowed to see her body," she said.
Al-Shabab in Kismayo has refused attempts by the BBC to discuss the
stoning.
It is almost two years since the Ethiopian-backed interim government
ousted the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which had ruled much of
Somalia for nearly six months.
In 2006, the UIC was generally welcomed for the law and order it
brought to a country bedevilled by more than a decade of civil war
and clan fighting.
UIC fighters launched an insurgency following what many Somalis
regarded as an Ethiopian invasion. Its youth and military wing, al-Shabab,
gained notoriety for its determination, despite its much smaller
numbers.
Fear
The group, which is on the US terror list and is said to have links
with al-Qaeda, has since split from the UIC, angered by its current
peace negotiations with the government.
It does not work against the UIC, but it favours co-operating with
other groups including:
• The Kaanboni, led by Hassan Turki, who is also on the US terror
list
• The Islamic Front, a new group about which very little is known.
For example, since mid-August, when they captured the Lower Jubba,
Middle Jubba and Gedo regions from local clan militia, they now
share the administration with existing officials.
According to well-informed sources in the regions who requested
anonymity, these groups instil fear among the local population.
"You keep quiet and follow the commands of the Islamists, or
emigrate to neighbouring countries, or simply die and leave this
world," one of them said.
In Mogadishu, al-Shabab insurgents are said to move around the city
freely - often in vehicles captured from the government.
The government forces and troops from Ethiopia and the African Union
are limited to the airport, port, presidential palace and a few
military camps.
Besides the central city of Baidoa, these are the only areas
government forces now hold.
When they attempt to move between these points, they are often
ambushed by the Islamists.
A few weeks ago, al-Shabab held a military parade in a former
military camp in the capital, where they carried out a public
flogging of two men sentenced by an Islamic court over a family
dispute.
The flogging took place in front of crowds of local residents, and
was orchestrated to show just who is running the show.
Death threats
Al-Shabab insurgents have a countrywide organisation, threatening
anyone they perceive to be supporting the government with text
messages.
One human rights activist outside the capital told the BBC that he
was ordered to close down his offices.
He said he began receiving quite frequent threatening messages on
his mobile. So he stopped using his phone.
Eventually a relative brought him a stern message from al-Shabab. It
said if he did not stop his work, he would be killed.
As the government has lost ground over the last five months, the
number of attacks on civil society activists, local non-governmental
workers and international aid workers has increased.
Some have been shot dead point-blank; others have been kidnapped and
are still missing.
Most suspect that those behind the attacks are al-Shabab insurgents,
even if no-one dares say so publicly.
In the central Hiiran region, where most towns have seen a presence
of al-Shabab and the more moderate UIC since July, people have been
more vocal in their complaints.
'Not Islamic'
A former army engineer and political activist detailed examples of
those targeted because of their association with Ethiopia or the
West.
"They have killed 17 civilians without reason or due process
including two teachers and a well-known traditional elder, Da'ar
Hirsi Hooshow," the man, whose name is being withheld for his own
safety, told the BBC.
The teachers worked at a school that taught English and employed
foreign staff.
The shooting of Mr Hooshow, who was known to be holding talks with
Ethiopian troops before he was shot dead on 10 October, prompted
angry scenes in Beled Weyne.
Town residents stoned al-Shabab centres believing them to be behind
the killing.
And while the UIC may share al-Shabab's aim to see the Ethiopians
leave the country, it has distanced itself from its former allies.
On Monday, UIC authorities in Beled Weyne arrested nine al-Shabab
members for allegedly kidnapping an official over the weekend
"We didn't ask them to do any operation at all," Hiiran's al-Shabab
Chairman Sheikh Ali Dheere told the BBC.
"They are wrong if they committed a kidnap. They will have to be
punished under Sharia law," he said.
But many fear that law and order is not al-Shabab's priority.
"They are holding this region with the barrel of the gun, and it has
nothing to do with Islam," the Hiiran political activist said.
Source:BBC
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