Somali refugees recall 'harsh' Islamist rule
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
IFO REFUGEE CAMP, Kenya, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Chewing the leafy khat stimulant Islamists had banned him from consuming, Mohamed Moge Sigad complains the powerful religious movement controlling a swathe of south-central Somalia is too strict.
"They are bandits," said the stonemason and father-of-three, while queuing for food aid in a Kenyan refugee camp after trekking and hitchhiking from Somalia for days.
"They are the cause of each and every problem. They are too strict when exercising power. I'm not happy with them."
Like thousands of refugees pouring into the Dadaab camps in northeastern Kenya, Sigad fled his homeland fearing conflict as the Islamists extended their territorial grip, effectively flanking a Western-backed interim government.
Many refugees like Sigad complain of strict Islamist rule.
The movement, arising from religious courts in Mogadishu, has been welcomed for bringing some law and order in a country that plunged into anarchy after the 1991 ouster of a dictator.
The Islamists, who chased out warlords, say sharia law is the solution to Somalia's woes. But for some in the mainly moderate Muslim country, this is too much.
Sigad's hometown of Kismayu was rocked by protests after the Islamists took over last month without firing a shot.
One demonstration that prompted a curfew was spurred by the ban of khat, a source of income for women and a popular pastime for men in the Horn of Africa nation.
"When they banned it, I felt bad, very bad," said Sigad, at the Ifo camp in Dadaab, about 100 km (62 miles) from the Somali border. "I can't work without it, I'm not capable of anything without it. They denied me something good."
"HARSH RULE"
More than 1,000 weak and hungry Somalis a day have crossed into Kenya in the last few days in the hope of starting afresh in Dadaab. Around 162,000 people live there in flimsy shacks on sandy, barren land strewn with thorn bushes.
Aid workers say continued arrivals at Dadaab could soon be overwhelming as more Somalis flee the possibility of conflict, drought, and strict Islamist rule. Influxes have coincided with further territorial gains made by the Islamists.
Since seizing Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords in June, the Islamists have shown a hardline element by threatening "infidels" who did not pray with death and shutting down public screenings of the soccer World Cup.
Aid workers recount cases where women have complained of beatings when looking the Islamists in the eye.
Stung by comparisons with Afghanistan's Taliban movement, the Islamists deny extremism and say they are imposing stability after years of anarchy.
But Zamzam Abdi Hussein was scared when they took Kismayu.
"As soon as they arrived, they imposed a harsh rule," the mother of six says, the morning after her first night in Ifo.
"Some of my neighbours were beaten up. Everyone was scared after they entered Kismayu. They feared for their lives."
Surrounded by sacks of clothes, cushions and a radio, her main fear is war between the Islamists and Ethiopia, which witnesses say has sent troops to prop up the government, the 14th attempt at effective central rule since 1991.
The Islamists have declared holy war against Ethiopia. Addis Ababa says the movement is led by terrorists.
"People thought the Ethiopians would come. The fear doubled," she said.
Osman Somo Guyo, also from Kismayu, says life was better before the port city's former rulers fled.
"They want to command every person. They ask you: 'Why are you sitting there? Why are you standing there?' So many restrictions," he said.
"Some people are ok with them there, it's those who have businesses that have problems. This is making people flee."
