Al-Shabaab’s shadow courts in Mogadishu must be destroyed - minister

He said that the Federal Government of Somalia is determined to get rid of the Al-Shabaab Courts in the Lower Shabelle and Mogadishu within two years.

News Keydmedia Online
16 August 2022

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The new Minister of the Interior of the Federal Government of Somalia, Ahmed Moalim Fiqi announced plans to destroy the shadow Al-Shabaab courts in Mogadishu and nearby areas.

Fiqi, who is a former Intelligence director said the people seeking justice from Al-Shabaab courts in the Basra area near Afgoye district of the Lower Shabelle region have been on the rise for the past few years due to the lack of confidence in the country's judiciary. 

He said that the Federal Government of Somalia is determined to get rid of the Al-Shabaab Courts in the Lower Shabelle and Mogadishu within two years.

Fiqi said that the Somalis need to get justice at this time, as well as reduce the large amount of money charged by the Government courts in Mogadishu to win the hearts and minds of the people.

Al-Shabaab secretly controls the country's capital, levying taxes on trade and goods imported at the seaport, and has a court in the north of the city, where the group summons everyone to show up.

Several times since 2017, Somali authorities have been issuing a tough ultimatum to the people who travel to Al-Shabaab-controlled areas to seek justice, and no measures taken to stop them.

The security and judicial experts believe that Al-Shabaab provides effective justice to the cases brought at its so-called mobile sharia courts that deal with cases swiftly using death threats.

It is not known whether the new government led by Hassan Sheikh will succeed in dismantling the visible and hidden Al-Shabaab courts, as well as closing off the group's financial resources, such as taxes from Mogadishu businesses. 

KEYDMEDIA English