Wednesday, January 12, 2011
KISMAYO, Somalia (UPI) -- Al-Shabaab, the Somali insurgent group with ties to al-Qaida, banned women Tuesday from holding jobs in Kismayo, a woman affected by the order said.
Shabelle Media Network said the woman, who did not want her name used, got in touch to report jobs had been closed to women, including working at the port, in cafeterias and selling khat in the market. She said some women in the town went to the al-Shabaab judge and asked him, apparently without success, to make the rules less restrictive.
Many Somali families are dependent on women's earnings given the longtime political and economic chaos in the country.
Kismayo, a seaport near the mouth of the Jubba River, is Somalia's third-largest city with a population of about 70,000 people.
Source: UPI