Somalia: Life after Al Shabaab
Views:456 | Wednesday, June 20th, 2012 | By somaliradio.net

“When we came back the people were very happy, they came out of their homes to celebrate and welcome us,” he said.

Mahmud Abdi, an intelligence officer, said when he first walked through Hudur, “You could see what Shabaab had done in the faces of the people: They were scared if you said ‘hi.'”

Al Shabaab’s puritanical version of Islam ran contrary to the predominately Sufi beliefs of people in Somalia, and it was the local imams who bore the brunt of the rebels' theological zeal.

“When Al Shabaab captured the town some innocent people were beheaded, others were arrested or fled town. Some imams were also killed but not here, in other towns,” said Sheikh Ali Ibrahim, imam of Buulow mosque in Hudur.”

Mohamed, clutching a string of prayer beads and a slim collection of Quranic verses, was expelled from his mosque and only returned after Al Shabaab left. “The religion they adopted is something they made up, it has nothing to do with the Prophet Mohamed,” he said.

Officials in Hudur were confident that although Al Shabaab were only 12 miles outside town they would not return. “The time of the hardliners is almost finished, Shabaab is dying,” said Mohamed Ahmed, district commissioner of Hudur.

But the near encirclement of the town by Al Shabaab is causing other problems.

Bakool was one of the first parts of Somalia to be declared a famine zone by the United Nations in July last year. Seventy-six-year-old Amino Mohamud survived thanks to a small store of sorghum she had saved up; others said they foraged for wild fruits, roots and grass.

Last year was tough but Mohamud said although Al Shabaab was no longer in Hudur their presence could be felt in empty market stalls and empty stomachs. “Forget about [last year],” she said, “now is worse. We are besieged by Al Shabaab, movement is restricted, prices are rising.”

Liberated towns like Hudur are islands of government control in a sea of Al Shabaab, which continues to control most of the hinterland and the few roads that cross it. Militant roadblocks ensure the movement of both goods and people is restricted.

“We have encountered problems in terms of getting supplies in from other districts because [Al Shabaab] are blocking all the roads coming into the town,” said the governor, Abdi.

“The businessmen are trying to bring their supplies into town by using donkey carts so they don't use the roads. The pastoralists are coming into town to sell off their livestock, but it is also difficult for them to come here through the official roads, as they are blocked,” he said.

Source:Global Post