Fiqi: Three Groups Oppose Counterterrorism Operations Against Al-shabaab

Fiqi avoided questions about federal judicial responses about Al-shabaab courts’ rulings on property and plantation disputes.

Mogadishu (PP News Desk) — The Somali Federal Interior Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi alleged that three groups were against anti Al-shabaab operations. “A group loyal to the previous federal administration and Al-shabaab operatives are intimidating people who took up. A third group belongs to peaceful regions of Somalia and they do not want to see peace restored in territories under Al-shabaab” said the Minister.

Fiqi was responding to concerns about the policy to arming Ma’awisley clan militias and what strategies were in place to control territories in North Hiiraan and Galguduud retaken from Al-shabaab. Security experts have urged the Federal Government of Somalia to publish policies on judicial responses to property and plantation ownership disputes on which Al-shabaab’s clandestine courts have ruled.

Since 2009 Al-shabaab court rulings enabled many people to reclaim houses and plantations forcefully occupied by clan militias and their associates during 1990s.

Meanwhile, Yusuf Hussein Jimale, the Mayor of Mogadishu, has threatened tough mesures against business owners who follow Al-shabaab’s instructions and close their businesses. “You will not be allowed to reopen your business if you close your shop on orders from Al-shabaab. Anyone who seeks Al-shabaab’s judicial services will not be allowed to return to Mogadishu” said the Mayor.

Al-shabaab levies illegal tax on the majority of Mogadishu businesses. “Al-shabaab is a ruthless non-state actor using coercive powers associated with the state. People seeking judicial services of the group are victims of injustice that successive federal governments have failed to address” said a security analyst in Mogadishu.

© Puntland Post, 2022