Kenya: New Al-Shabaab Magazine Spins Horrors of Westgate, Threatens Kenya With More Attacks By Sabahi Staff, 18 November 2013 In the new edition of its bilingual English-Swahili magazine, al-Shabaab in great detail attempts to justify its massacre at Nairobis Westgate mall as part of an Islamic retribution, and warns Kenya of a host of terrorist attacks to come. Kenyans are in for the long haul; the Westgate attack is merely the beginning of a long, gruesome war, the magazine quoted al-Shabaab top commander Ahmed Abdi Godane as saying. Released on a number of jihadist websites November 12th, the magazine, called Gaidi Mtaani, is a skilfully produced electronic document complete with pictures, essays and opinion pieces supporting al-Shabaabs activities and calls to jihad. A large portion of the magazine is dedicated to al-Shabaabs reasons for carrying out the Westgate attack, most prominent among them Kenyas continued military presence in Somalia. The ever-growing list of atrocities committed by the Kenyan invaders against the innocent Muslims in both Somalia and Kenya justifies -- as a retaliatory measure -- the Westgate attack, the editors note in the magazine said. Beyond the exhaustive attempts to justify the killing of at least 67 civilians at the Nairobi shopping mall is al-Shabaabs focus on threatening Kenya and its citizens with more Westgate-style attacks. It seems that it will take more -- much more -- than just Westgate to get the message across, the magazine said, referencing al-Shabaabs demand that Kenyan troops leave Somalia. Kenyans should therefore brace themselves for more attacks, more blood, more gruesome days and more sleepless nights. The attack may have ended at Westgate, but what Kenyans need to understand is that the reasons that brought about such an attack are still in place, the magazine said. Westgate was not a fight, it was a message. The real fight is on the way, al-Shabaab spokesperson Ali Mohamed Rage is quoted as saying. Blatant lies about Westgate Interwoven in the justifications and threats are mistruths about the attack. You [the attackers] have revived the goals of the mujahedeen for jihad whose purpose is to alienate the unbelievers, help the poor and denounce injustice. You have proven that the blood of a Muslim is of worth, and that the mujahedeen care for the blood of the innocents, a Swahili-language portion of the magazine stated. As the attack unfolded on the first day, the mujahideen, driven by higher morals and ethics of warfare than those held by the kuffar [infidels], removed women and children from the mall and gave them a safe passage out, another part of the document said. Also safeguarding the inviolable blood of the Muslims, the mujahideen separated the Muslims from the kuffar before beginning their attack. These assertions -- that the attackers cared about the lives of innocent people, and safeguarded women and children -- are patently false. According to a partial list of Westgate massacre victims published by Kenyas Daily Nation on September 25th, at least 19 women and 6 children -- over a third of the total number of estimated casualties -- were gunned down by al-Shabaab. The list does not account for dozens of others who were shot and wounded by the militants. At least two pregnant women were also among the dead: Kenyan television and radio presenter Ruhila Adatia-Sood, who came from Kenyas Ismaili Muslim community and was six months pregnant, and Dutch humanitarian worker Elif Yavuz, who was eight months pregnant. Interviewed by Sabahi after the attack, survivor Anurag Bajaj, 38, described seeing multiple children shot dead on the mall floor. One image still haunts me. The kid had been shot in the back of her head and died while clutching her dead mothers dress, he said. Hypocritical references to violence against women In one of the Swahili-language articles, the magazine attempts to stir up anger and resentment towards African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces, and compel people to support al-Shabaabs jihad, by saying that international troops use rape as a weapon in Somalia. The magazine, which uses the alleged rape of a Somali woman by AMISOM forces in August as the basis for the article, asserts that AMISOM is trying to spread HIV/AIDS and break clan ties in Somalia. My Muslim brothers, it is incumbent upon us to rescue Muslim women from the aggression and tyranny of the infidels and hence to preserve the honour and status of Muslim women, the article says. This mission will not be accomplished except through jihad. Jihad is the responsibility of every Muslim. We implore you to sacrifice your souls and material wealth to aid jihad and to help rescue your family. If we engage in Jihad until we render justice through sharia, we will be guaranteed peace and stability and our Muslim women and girls will be preserved. While investigations into the alleged AMISOM incident continue, the magazine fails to address al-Shabaabs own proven history of violence against women. Al-Shabaab harasses and oppresses women on a regular basis, and even abducts young girls to be their wives, leaders of Somali womens rights organisations say. Al-Shabaab uses forced marriages to assert control over local residents, even though this form of marriage usually does not last more than several weeks, said Sudi Mohammed Ali, former financial director for the Ministry of Women and Family Affairs, which is now a department within the Ministry of Development and Social Affairs. They consider this to be an easy way to raise declining morale among their fighters, she told Sabahi in April 2012. The gunmen resort to kidnapping girls to perform different services. They become wives or maids in their homes and camps. Somali women have been the target of increasingly harsh orders implemented by fundamentalists in the areas they control, Faiza Mohamed, a womens rights activist with the Voice of Somali Women for Peace organisation, told Sabahi last year. She had escaped from an area under al-Shabaab rule after being banned from working. The militants shut down the offices where she had worked. Al-Shabaab is the enemy of women, Mohamed said. The lives of women who live in areas under al-Shabaab control have become hell because of the groups cruel code of conduct. According to Sheikh Nur Barud Gurhan, a prominent Somali cleric and spokesperson for the Somali Association of Islamic Scholars, these types of forced marriages are unlawful in Islam; it is no better than rape and there is no basis for it in Islam. They took numerous women, forcing them to marry and bullying them into thinking they could not lawfully deny a mujahid fighting [to protect] the religion and the country, he told Sabahi, adding that women and families who refused to obey the militants faced harsh penalties from the group. -allafrica
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 06:57:22 +0000
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