Hargeysa, Somaliland Oct 12, 2005 (AFP) – Young people in Somaliland are so wild about the Internet and cyber-dating for young girls that local associations and the UN children's agency are out to ensure education and ease tensions.

Streets in Hargeisa, the capital of a breakaway part of Somalia that is far more peaceful than most of the lawless country, empty of teenagers in late afternoons as they wait their turn in internet cafes to send a flurry of instant messages to distant paramours.

Since they have much increased access to the web, Somaliland 's teenage girls are frequently lured into marriage abroad hoping to enjoy the economic benefits of natives living elsewhere, primarily in Britain , according to civic associations.

"Why don't the girls look at us rather than instant messaging Somalilanders far away?" local teenager Amin Sheikh Mukhtar wondered. "Because we can't afford a lavish wedding ceremony or cars."

Many girls rely on such chat in hopes of netting prospective Somaliland men living elsewhere and as a widespread social response, they are encouraged into marrying at an increasingly early age to stem the flow into the diaspora.

The practice seriously disrupts the education of girls, they themselves said. In turn, this worries officials in and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), which has begun to address the problem to encourage education.

"If you are married, you can't go to school while you're pregnant," Leyla Abdillahi told AFP. "It's unrealistic to have children and learn at the same time."

"If girls wait until they go to university to get married, then they will be too old to mother children," argued Abdillahi Hassan, shrugging off what he called a "western concept."

Until recent years, it was formerly forbidden to discuss marriage among men and women in this rigid Muslim country of about 3.5 million people as a matter for public debate but the cyber-cafes are one sign of changing social values.

An official working for the Somaliland Cultural and Sport Association (SOCSA) official said the need for awareness about the consequences of early marriage was more important than outdated notions of marriage and education.

"The idea is to create awareness in the young community to understand to what unplanned marriage does to the education of young girls," said Khadra Khalil of SOCSA.

At a seminar on the issue, Hassan nodded in appreciation.

"I need to go to school, earn a degree from the university and get a job. Then I'll be able to discuss marriage," the outspoken 18-year-old man said, but not all the girls participating were as open to discussing marriage, especially in mixed company.

Fatuma Sheikh Mohamud Ibrahim, covered from head to toe in an Islamic hijab, told AFP: "The idea of discussing family affairs in public is not Islamic and not holy."

SOCSA officers pushed on, citing high rates of divorce and lack of education among girls who are married at an early age.

"Almost all girls who marry prematurely quit school and in most cases, their marriages end in disarray, only increasing the number of divorces and single mothers," Khalil added.

But at least one local youth was unconvinced.

"If we wait until after the girls go to university, all the beautiful girls would be married to boys in diaspora," said 20-year-old Yusuf Ahmed.

He added: "Early marriage is the only, however painful, solution to our problem."

Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse.

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