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Mogadishu,
Somalia, July 14, 2012—Defections from Al Qaeda-linked militant group al
Shabaab are accelerating as Somali and African Union troops take new
territory around the capital Mogadishu, according to officials in
Somalia.
Militants who abandon the Shabaab risk retaliatory assassinations from
fighters still loyal to the militia, but a government-run program in
Mogadishu houses several hundred former fighters, many of them
teenagers. It provides them with meals, housing and courses on
patriotism, anti-violence and religion.
Related: Documents found on Shabaab leader detail chilling plans
Reliable figures on the number of defectors, however, are hard to come
by. Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman says there have
been at least 500 in recent months. African Union military spokesman Lt.
Col. Paddy Ankunda also said their numbers were rising.
Two fighters who defected from the Shabaab about four months ago and now
live at the government-run program spoke to The Associated Press about
their old and new lives.
Mohamed Saeed, 18, said that militants didn’t dare share plans about
defecting with even their closest battlefield friends. Trust, he said,
could get you killed.
“The plan was to keep secrets to yourself,” he said.
As the Shabaab has lost its profit centres — the markets in Mogadishu
the militants once taxed, for example — life on the battlefield became
harder, Saeed said. Fighters often ate only one meal a day.
“Food was scarce,” he said. “Worse, mortars were raining down over us.
You can’t retreat. Other armed fighters were deployed behind us to kill
us if we tried to move back from the tanks shelling us.”
Al Shabaab is estimated to have several thousand fighters. It is
Somalia’s most dangerous militant group, espousing an ultra-conservative
brand of Islam. It has imposed harsh social rules in areas it controls,
much like the Taliban did during the 1990s in Afghanistan.
Abdiqadir Mohamed, 17, another defector, said: “I felt like I was caged
like animals. We weren’t even allowed to call our parents.”
Both of the teens said they joined the Shabaab — at age 16 and 14,
respectively — after being indoctrinated by their teachers, who told
them they would be fighting to protect and defend Islam. The pair said
they were told they would go to paradise if killed in battle, but they
later understood that fighting had nothing to do with religion.
Now, the former fighters sleep in large warehouses filled with beds and
spend many hours hanging out under trees. Many listen to music and watch
TV, with some still having jihadist songs on their mobile phones.
Hussein Arale Adan, a member of parliament, cautioned that not all of
them are to be trusted. He said one defector who joined the Somali army
carried out a suicide attack against the presidential palace.
“The immediate integration of militant defectors into the army without
enough rehabilitation is a wrong-headed decision,” he said.
Some of the fighters stay in the government program for many months.
Many have trouble finding jobs because of their past associations with
the Shabaab. Others stay in the program for fear they will be killed by
militants in Mogadishu.
Mohamed and Saeed once fought alongside each other. They both ended up
at the government-run program even though they never talked about it
together. The pair recalled watching some of their friends killed by
Shabaab leaders.
“We only remember three of our friends killed in front of our eyes. How
many were secretly killed?” Mohamed said. “You can’t wait for death
every day.”
Mohamed said his Shabaab commander complained about the increasing
defections.
Only a few years ago, when the Shabaab held sway over most of Mogadishu,
and deadly fighting was a daily staple in Somalia’s seaside capital, the
Somali government’s military struggled to stem the flow of defections
from the government military to the Shabaab. Now the flow has reversed.
Yusuf Ali, 27, served as a field commander for the Shabaab. Many
militants joined the Shabaab for the money, he said.
“Joining them was a surefire way to get money during their first years.
But now they can’t even get meals for their fighters,” Ali said.
“They’ve lost their popularity. They lie about Islam. They are hated
thugs because of the unjustified killings and misinterpreting religion.”
As Ali and the others spoke, a pickup truck pulled up and dropped off
six new defectors with unkempt hair and muddy shoes.
“Nice to see you. After a little bit of time we are together again,” one
former fighter said to the newcomers.
Source: AP
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