Everything You Have Told Me Is True by Mary Harper

Author:Mary Harper [Harper, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Hurst
Published: 2019-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

In the Shadow

As Al Shabaab has controlled large parts of their country for years, millions of Somalis have been forced to live under its rule and influence. Some, such as the nomads who move from place to place with their livestock in search of pasture and water, have generally experienced a relatively light touch from the Islamists, although some have volunteered to fight for Al Shabaab and others have been forcibly recruited. Other people, especially those living in villages, towns and cities where Al Shabaab had or still has an established presence, have had to drastically change their way of life. Despite this, some Somalis have chosen to live in areas controlled by the group or to send their families there, deciding that, on balance, it is worth giving up personal freedoms in exchange for a degree of order, safety and predictability.

The port towns of Merca and Brava in southern Somalia were both controlled by Al Shabaab for several years. The militants have now left the town centres but maintain a presence in the outskirts and surrounding rural areas, sometimes venturing deep into the towns at night. In February 2016, Al Shabaab briefly recaptured Merca—which they had lost to AMISOM and Somali government troops in 2012—and raised their black flags over the police station and administrative headquarters.

Testimonies from residents of Merca and Brava show the extent to which their lives were changed by Al Shabaab, although the militants sometimes deny the rules they impose are as draconian as people claim.

Witnesses speak of how women were forced to put away their colourful robes of sheer, floaty material, and how men and women were forbidden from travelling in the same vehicle. One man from Merca, Mowlid, said that he had judged it to be unsafe to walk in public with his mother, sister, wife or daughter because he had feared that Al Shabaab would accuse him of immorality. He told me he lived in constant fear that the Islamists would seize the women in his family and take them off to their camps.

Mowlid said listening to the radio was not allowed unless it was tuned to Al Shabaab’s station, Al Andalus. Music was banned. Girls were not permitted to play sports. Smoking was forbidden. He described how a man was caught smoking a cigarette during Ramadan. He was shot on sight and left there all day as an example to others, his body only removed during the night.

Another man, also from Merca, joked about the dilemma he faced about his facial hair now that government troops and AMISOM had taken the town from the militants. ‘The question is, should you keep your beard long and risk being accused by AMISOM or the Somali army of being a member of Al Shabaab? Or should you shave it off and risk being attacked by Al Shabaab, which is still present in our city, especially at night? At least with government troops you can pretend you are too poor to go to the barber. Al Shabaab might just kill you, without asking any questions.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.