POOR PEOPLE WITH NO POWER TO DEFEND

Al-Shabaab ousts traditional elders in favour of loyalists

By Abdi Moalim in Mogadishu

Al-Shabaab is pushing traditional elders from power in Somalia's Bay, Bakol and Lower Shabelle regions and elevating younger loyalists who back the militant group's doctrine.

• Somali clan elders attend a meeting in Beledweyne in February 2013. Beledweyne was liberated from al-Shabaab in September 2011, but the militant group has been replacing traditional elders in parts of the country still under its control. [AFP Photo/AU-UN IST Photo/Tobin Jones]
  

Elders who spoke to Sabahi said militants are training and supporting men under 40 years of age, who can be easily indoctrinated by al-Shabaab, to rise up as elders in their communities and replace those who do not agree or comply with al-Shabaab ideology.
Since 2011, al-Shabaab has removed at least a dozen traditional elders in those regions, parts of which have been the hardest hit by al-Shabaab's rigid rules and where elders have been outspoken against the militants' views, said Ali Abdirahman Ali, spokesman for the Digil and Mirifle tribe.
Al-Shabaab's campaign came about in full force after the traditional elders went to Mogadishu to participate in the formation of Somalia's federal government in May 2012, Ali told Sabahi.
Thirty-one traditional elders of the Digil and Mirifle tribe who were part of the National Constituent Assembly are now in Baidoa where government forces are ensuring their safety, he said.
The militant group replaced traditional elders from six of the major Digil and Mirifle clans in Bay and Bakol with elders who do not have public support, he said, although he declined to name which clans due to the sensitivity of the circumstances.
Al-Shabaab has already harmed societal customs and culture, and is continuing to do so by branding the legitimate elders as leaders who cannot be trusted, Ali said.
"They see us as heretics who have rejected Islam and who should be killed," he said, adding that other legitimate elders in areas controlled by al-Shabaab could not speak out and were confined to their homes due to fear of al-Shabaab.
Ali called on the public not to support the elders who were appointed by al-Shabaab, and to remain loyal to their true traditional elders.

Poor people with no power to defend themselves

One of the traditional elders al-Shabaab pushed out was 80-year-old Ali Barre Mohamed from Wajid district in the Bakol region.
"They replaced me with another one when I would not work with them, [because] I was one of the elders who selected the parliamentarians [in the federal government]," he told Sabahi. "[Al-Shabaab leader] Ahmed Godane replaced me with a young man from my clan, whom I do not personally know, because that was his preferred appointee."
The local population is forced to support al-Shabaab and obey its orders "because they are poor people who do not have the power to defend themselves", Mohamed said.
A similar thing happened in Barawe in Lower Shabelle, according to Abukar Gamelle, 75, an elder from that area.
"We followed all their orders and they gave us about five trainings in 2011," he said, referring to al-Shabaab's attempts to indoctrinate local elders. "At the end of 2011, they ordered me and five other men to transfer our traditional elder positions and they appointed five young men."
Gamelle said he fled the region and came to Mogadishu after al-Shabaab pushed him out. Meanwhile, his five fellow elders stayed behind in Barawe, but have no freedom, he said.
After Gamelle's departure, several lower-ranking traditional elders were jailed in their districts because they too had refused to follow al-Shabaab's orders, he said.
Gamelle appealed to the government to act immediately to liberate Barawe, so that its people could be free and traditional elders like him could return to their former roles.

Somali government 'prepared to free the people'

Al-Shabaab is trying to propagate their ideology and change Somali culture at its core by targeting traditional elders, Somali lawmaker Osman Libah said.
"In the past, they used to kill people and now they are destroying the culture," Libah told Sabahi.
He said the government should act fast because al-Shabaab's strategy is resulting in some clans having two elders with opposing views, which could leave those communities at risk for inter-clan conflict even after al-Shabaab is removed.
Somali political analyst Omar Dahir, who heads the Centre for Moderation and Dialogue in Mogadishu, said al-Shabaab is trying to control traditional elders because these leaders wield much influence in Somalia.
"They want to find elders who are loyal to them and who assist them, for example, with the recruitment of boys for war and to get weapons held by the clan militias. They also want to get protection within the clans," Dahir said.
Areas under al-Shabaab's control must be liberated in order to combat this problem, he said, adding that the Somali army cannot accomplish this on its own.
"The Somali army needs to be equipped and armed on the same level as [African Union Mission in Somalia] troops because foreign troops cannot do anything about this issue as it requires close collaboration with the people," he said.
Meanwhile, Ridwan Haji Abdiwali, spokesman for Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon, told Sabahi that the government was committed to solving the problems faced by Somalis who live under al-Shabaab rule.
"The government has been working towards liberating areas under al-Shabaab's control all along and continues to be prepared to free the people," he said.
The government needs international help to wipe out al-Shabaab, but it is critical to empower the Somali military as it has a better understanding of the Somali territory and people, Abdiwali said.
"The Somali government is looking for ways to build up the army to a level where they can liberate the country," he said