Newly arrived Somali refugees at the Dadaab camp in Kenya

© E.Nyabera/UNHCR/afrol News

afrol News, 26 September - For two days, residents of Somalia's southern port town Kismayo have protested against the new Islamist rulers. Yesterday, a child was shot by the Islamist militia, today more than 20 women were detained. Passive resistance is also getting more notable. Many however see no other opportunity than leaving home and properties, fleeing the Islamist regime.

The Islamist courts movement - which took control of Mogadishu in June and now controls most of southern Somalia - started out as being a popular alternative to the violent, infighting warlords that had dominated the Somali capital for over a decade. Mogadishu residents cheered the return of law and order and the end of the mafia-like networks ruling by arbitrary use of gun force. The chaotic surroundings of Mogadishu easily fell to the Islamists for the same reason.

Kismayo was different, however. Seized by Somali Islamists and foreign fighters linked to al Qaeda on Sunday, popular opinion was split already on the onset of conquest. Pro- and anti-Islamist manifestations marked Kismayo - Somalia's third city - already as rumours said Islamist fighters were heading for the town.

Yesterday, the new Islamist rulers were met with massive protests by thousands of the town's residents, demanding their withdrawal. The Islamist militia - lead by the internationally wanted al Qaeda suspect Hassan Turki - resorted to gunshots to disperse the angry crowd. At least one 13-year-old boy was killed in the incident. Several more were hurt.

Despite the violent outcome yesterday, today anti-Islamist protests continued in Kismayo. The peaceful protest marches were dominated by women, scared by the Taliban-like practices by the Islamist courts movement. Protesters in particular had reacted to Mr Turki's statements yesterday, saying that Kismayo residents should fraternalise with the foreign Islamist fighters he had brought to town.

Again, Mr Turki's militia reacted to the peaceful protests by demonstrating force. Vehicles with machine gun armed fighters drove into the crowds, dispersing the protesters. According to witnesses speaking to the correspondent of 'Associated Press' in Kismayo, at least 20 women were arrested by the Islamist militia. Met with this unexpected resistance, the militia today imposed a curfew on the southern port town.

Resistance to the Islamists in Kismayo are rooted in the traditionally liberal practices of Sunni Islam in Somalia, often resisting the influence of conservative Wahabism. In addition, Kismayo has experienced relatively orderly conditions during Somalia's 15-year-old civil war, compared to the Mogadishu area. While there have been fighting over the control of the town, local warlords had managed to unite their forces in the Juba Valley Alliance, providing some kind of stability and clan connection to local rulers.

But also other parts of Somalia under Islamist rule have shown tendencies of protest and disobedience. The courts' ban of music, movies and sports angered most intellectuals, but also ordinary citizens. Attempts to take control over independent media have so long mostly been fought back after protests.

For many of those disagreeing with the new Islamist rulers, however, the main choice has been between putting up a pro-Islamist image or fleeing the country. Refugee streams out of Islamist-controlled Somalia have been greater that for a long time.

According to the UN's refugee agency UNHCR, Somalis recently have been pouring in to Kenya "at the rate of 2,500 a week." UNHCR does not have numbers for those displaced within Somalia. There are however indications that Somalis have started streaming out of the Islamist-controlled areas to the decreasing zone controlled by the transitional government based in Baidoa, the northern autonomous region of Puntland and neighbouring Ethiopia.

Not only do refugees and internally displaced keep pouring out of Islamist-controlled Somalia. Somali refugees on a repatriation scheme have stopped returning to the country. Only in Kenya, some 240,000 Somali refugees refuse to return. Tens of thousands reside under harsh conditions in Puntland. More than half a million Somalis are dispersed around the world, with no intention of returning as long as the Islamists pose a threat in Somalia.

By staff writers

© afrol News

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