SABAHI
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Al-Shabaab has been kidnapping traditional elders in villages near El
Bur since the beginning of October, accusing them of encouraging
residents to flee with their livestock from rural areas that serve as
hideouts for al-Shabaab militants.
Mohamed Abdi, a 38-year-old livestock trader in El Laheley, told
Sabahi that al-Shabaab has arrested more than 20 elders from the
villages of El Laheley, Hindhere and other areas that come under El Bur
jurisdiction.
He said no one knows where al-Shabaab has taken the kidnapped elders.
"Since the kidnappings, residents are wondering the exact location
where al-Shabaab is holding them, even though the group has asked some
families to pay ransom to release [the elders]," he said.
Before they were kidnapped, the elders resisted al-Shabaab's order to
convince local residents to take their livestock to the remote rural
areas so that al-Shabaab operatives hiding out could eat, said Salah
Dahir, a 55-year-old elder who lives in El Bur.
"The people fled the rural areas when they could no longer put up
with al-Shabaab's habit of slaughtering the people's livestock for their
own use, while telling them 'you must support the martyrs with your
livestock,'" he said.
Residents disobey al-Shabaab orders
Saido Ahmed, 65, fled El Laheley and now lives in El Bur after
al-Shabaab forcefully took six of her 15 camels and threatened her son.
"Al-Shabaab has legitimised the forceful robbery of our livestock by
telling us the animals are being used to help the Muslim troops who are
engaged in jihad," she told Sabahi.
"Six of my camels were taken within a week by different men from
al-Shabaab," she said. "They tried to kill my son who was looking after
the camels for me and beat him severely when he tried to argue with
them."
"I decided to flee with what was left [and find a place] not too far where I thought al-Shabaab would not present."
"Al-Shabaab operatives are hungry and find
nothing to eat in their hideouts. All they want is to rob everything
they see," she said. "The rural residents do not see any difference now
between guarding their livestock against al-Shabaab and guarding them
against other predator animals."
Ahmed called on the Somali government troops to come to the districts in Galgadud region where al-Shabaab is present.
"We are asking the men in the national army to come to El Bur and the
areas that come under it to free us from al-Shabaab because what we are
under is slavery," she said.
Al-Shabaab has ordered the relatives of the kidnapped elders to hand
over livestock as ransom, but relatives are refusing, said "Abdi Ali", a
52-year-old resident of El Bur who asked to have his real name
concealed for security reasons.
"My cousin is among the elders who were kidnapped," he told Sabahi.
"He is sick and suffers from diabetes and hypertension. Al-Shabaab
contacted us and asked us to pay 20 camels for each person to secure
their release. We refused to do that because they will take an elder
every day if we give them [the animals]."
Somali cleric Sheikh Mohamed Hassan disparaged al-Shabaab's use of force to take locals' livestock in the name of Islam.
"There is no basis in Islam for robbing Muslims or non-Muslims of
their property. I do not know where the religion al-Shabaab [professes]
comes from," he said.
"They will gain nothing in this world or in the hereafter from the
livestock they are looting and the livestock they are seeking as ransom
to release the elders they kidnapped," he told Sabahi. "I would urge the
young people who are engaged in these actions, which are outside the
bounds of Islam, to repent."