Somali instability worries Maghreb neighbours

2009-11-05

As radical groups in Somalia grow in power, new concerns are mounting in the Maghreb about how to keep young people from adopting extremist ideologies.

Safa Salah Eddine in Algiers, Siham Ali in Rabat, Jamel Arfaoui in Tunis and Mohamed Wedoud in Nouakchott contributed to this report – 05/11/09

[Abdurashid Abikar/AFP/Getty Images] A woman passes by Al-Shabab militiamen patrolling Bakara Market in Mogadishu on October 4th.

Security experts in the Maghreb are alarmed by a recent upswing in violence in Somalia. With a rise in radicalism threatening the rights of women and religious minorities in that country, Maghreb civil society groups are taking steps to stop extremist ideologies from surging in their direction.

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi described the threat of Somali instability as "critical" at the African Union summit in August. Speaking at the opening ceremonies, he underlined "the necessity of resolving conflicts that exist among African brotherly nations, as they threaten global peace and security".

A video released by radical militia group Al-Shabab on Eid al-Fitr showed a pledge of allegiance to Osama bin Laden. Al-Shabab has cracked down on women in Somali cities in recent weeks, including the Monday (November 1st) closure of three women's organisations in the town of Balad Hawa on the Kenyan border. According to Reuters, the affected institutions are the Halgan Businesswomen's Organisation, the Sed Huro Human Rights Organisation, and Farhan Women for Peace.

Muslim women in militia-controlled areas of Mogadishu have been forced by members of Al-Shabab to wear stockings to cover their feet, and to remove their bras, which the group believes are intended to seduce men. In addition, men in these areas have reportedly been ordered to refrain from shaving their beards. Those who fail to comply face detention or whipping.

For women, choosing to go without a veil can even mean death; this is especially true among Somalia's small non-Muslim population.

Many Maghreb residents have reacted with shock to the recent events in Somalia.

Journalist Abdelaziz Dahmani of Jeune Afrique described the country as living in a state of chaos in the absence of a stable government. "Instead, Somalia is ruled by numerous authorities and governments on a district and regional level," he said.

Dahmani suggested that Arab regimes could do more. "We find motionlessness in several Arab countries that are more organised, but they just do nothing," he said.

"I don't know why the Arab region doesn't export anything but the news of murder and massacres," said Bouchra Belhaj Hmida, lawyer and former president of the Association of Democratic Women in Tunisia.

"Our images are shameful in the world," she continued. "We seem as if we've been stripped of our humanity. This is because of acts committed by certain religious groups that have their own interpretations of religion, and who have receive media attention in our region. These groups attract extensive popular support because they base their discourse on the Quran."

Hmida warned against what she called imminent danger. "It's knocking on the doors of all countries, including those that think they are immune to religious extremism," she said. "They mustn't feel relaxed – even if they have progressive laws – because the danger of falling into the game of religion and not separating it from the state discourse and its practices has fatal consequences."

"What's taking place in Somalia is a model for what can take place anywhere the factors of religious extremism, political despotism, economic backwardness, illiteracy and colonialism combine," said Sami Ibrahim, a specialist in political Islam groups.

Journalist Faten Ghanmi said Maghreb governments need to do more to turn the region's youth against the dangers of extremism. "The Maghreb is not 100% immune to this phenomenon... confronting poisonous ideas requires the instilling of contrary ideas in our children".

The way to do this, she suggested, "is to instil the values of humanity in general, and the values preached by correct Islam".

An integrated approach involving civil society groups and educational institutions is required to give young people the tools they need to combat extremism, Ghanmi said. "This is because fundamentalism has found a fertile soil in which to grow, and we have to protect this soil and immunize it against extremist ideology."

Mauritanian Islamic studies professor Alda Ould Mohammed questioned the Somali militant groups' religious identity. "I was personally shocked by the execution of Amina Mous Ali [a Christian woman reportedly killed in Galkayo for refusing to wear a veil] in Somalia," he said. "I didn't imagine that there were parts of our Muslim world that were so dark. I fear that this type of destructive religious idea will migrate to other Muslim countries. I don't know what 'sharia' the groups in Somalia are talking about, or what religion they believe in."

Imam Mohammed Al Moustafa Ould Ali of Al Hoda Mosque in Mauritania also reacted to the execution of Amina Mous Ali. "I heard in the media about the execution of Amina in Somalia last month at the hands of those who call themselves 'Jamat Al Sunna wal Jamaa'. I felt sorry abour this awful act that tarnished the image of Islam... I'm astonished by those who call themselves Muslims and execute an innocent person in cold blood."

Fellow preacher Al Mukhtar Ould Ahmed told Magharebia that "ignorance about religion and lack of understanding of reality are two causes for committing these massacres in the name of religion".

"Correct Islam is based on one principle," he continued. "There is no compulsion in religion, which means that everyone is free to choose their own beliefs.... Therefore, there is no meaning in terrorism and murder in the name of religion."

Moroccan MP and Imam Abdelbari Zemzemi told Magharebia that Islam does not call for the execution of women who do not wear the veil. "This is a violation and an injustice, and such acts should never be committed in the name of Islam," he said. "The state alone has the power to pass sentence."

Fellow MP Fatima Moustaghfir advocated a fresh approach to the interpretation of the Quran and ijtihad. Since ijtihad has been dominated by men for such a long time, she said, the resulting interpretations are to the detriment of women, "even though Islam honours women".

According to Ikram Ghioua, an Algerian journalist specialising in security issues and terrorist groups, militia groups in Somalia are being carefully manipulated by al-Qaeda. "The misinterpretation of verses from the Quran, put forth by the extremists and other parties, has just one purpose: to ensure that this part of Africa continues in instability, to the undoubted benefit of al-Qaeda."

The injustices committed against women in Somalia, he continued, are contrary to Islamic teachings. "It just serves to paint a picture of a land where rival bands kill one another; it has nothing to do with Islam," she said.