Women bear the brunt of men’s links to Shabaab

Mwanatumu Mwalimu fancied being in a lovely marriage, a young mother just beginning to raise her children. 

But while at 23 she is the mother of a two-year-old, that is the farthest her fairy tale goes as she is already a widow.

And despite her young age, Ms Mwalimu says it has been difficult to remarry because she has been branded “a terror suspect’s wife”.

It is a tag that scares away potential suitors in Kibundani, Kwale County.

Her husband, Khalfan Lenuku Abdallah, 26, was among four youths whose bodies were found in Tsavo National Park early this year. 

The four went missing between November and December last year, only for their badly mutilated bodies to be found in the park. 

“I have now become both the mother and father of this child. I cannot remarry,” Ms Mwalimu laments.

Betrayal

Her heart aches with betrayal when she recalls that her in-laws sent her away to her ailing mother following her husband’s death. 

“My husband’s family sent me back home to live with my ageing mother. I have had to endure a difficult life since the death of my husband,” says the primary school dropout.

She now struggles to fend for her baby, whom she says would have been well-taken-care-of had her father been alive. 

Ms Mwalimu regrets that her youthful life is going to waste away, with hardships forcing her to be dependent on her ailing mother.

“I have been left a widow at a young age. I cannot get someone to look after me. I now rely on my mother, who is also not able to provide for both of us. No one can take care of my kid, it has been a difficult life,” she says.

A good person

She blames the police for the death of her husband, whom she describes as “a good person”. 

“To date, no one has ever come forward to explain to me why my husband had to die in such a cruel manner. I am in pain and it will take me forever to heal,” says Ms Mwalimu.

She defends her slain husband from claims that he had terror links, insisting that he did menial jobs to fend for his family.

Abdallah’s disappearance was linked to terror activities that were reportedly going on in Kibundani, where he was seized. 

And Ms Mwanasha Said has had to leave at least 10 jobs that were not easy to come by.  

Not because she is incapable of working, but she is tired of constant calls asking her to rush home because the child she left behind does not have anyone to look after him.

Ms Said, 28, has been taking care of her nephew for a year now since her brother, Athman Said, was taken from their home in Kombani, Kwale, on October 21, 2019.

People she says identified themselves as police officers stormed their house at around 3am.

After a thorough search, they left with Said.

Whereabouts remain unknown

To date, Said’s whereabouts remain unknown. His mother fell ill and has never recovered since.

Said’s wife, Fatuma, with whom she had the child, was taken back by her family.

Ms Said has been left to carry the burden, which came with lots of pain. A burden she never had anticipated in her life. 

“My mother has been unwell ever since her son was taken from home. My brother’s young child has been enquiring on the whereabouts of his father. But none of us can explain to him where he is or whether he is alive or not,” Ms Said says tearfully.

Life for this family has been turned upside down. Ms Said laments she has been left to live in fear. 

Sometimes she asks herself whether they should flee that house, which evokes memories of the fateful day.

“I have contemplated leaving this house, but then I ask myself where we would go. Sometimes I feel like those people would come and pick us as well because to date, we do not know the reason my brother was taken by them,” she says.

Ms Said says during the raid, the gunmen she insists were police officers had documents they were referring to to confirm whether they had the right person.

She recalled that the more than 20 police officers, some in uniform and others in plain clothes, broke into the house and woke her brother up from his bed.

They started questioning him as to how he got into the house.

“He said he came into the house after leaving our family house, which was being sold by one of our uncles. That is when a police officer who was in civilian clothes went outside to check the documents. Then another officer joined him and said they should go with him,” she recalls.

Missing person’s report

The following day she reported at Kombani police post. After several days she filed a missing person’s report.

Since she does not understand why her brother was taken away, she says she is always in fear that she, too, might be in trouble. 

Meanwhile, seeing the lives of their children cut short in the prime of their youth has wrought untold anguish on Ms Mwanasha Omar and Ms Rukiya Abdu.

Ms Omar from Kwale has lost three grandchildren – Ali, Salim and Shukran – to al-Shabaab.

Ms Abdu from Mombasa, for her part, has watched helplessly as her four children — Osama, Abulsatar, Salim and Saadia — joined the Somalia-based terror group.

Their two girls, Saadia and Shukran, have reportedly married al-Shabaab militants. Some of their male children have died and others are rotting at the Shimo la Tewa Maximum Prison.

“Ali was a good child but he started changing his ways after he joined a group of men who came to the village. He then said he was going to Mombasa to further his studies, only for him not to be seen for more than a year,” Ms Omar recounts from her home in Pengo village, Kwale County.

When Ali returned, he is reported to have influenced his brother Salim and sister Shukran to join the terror group. Salim was arrested in an operation at a camp where authorities said recruitment was going on.

Married to militant

Shukran vanished from home after being married to one of the militants, a relative says.

Ali was subsequently killed in 2016. One of Ms Abdu’s children, Osama, is also reported to have died in Somalia.

The family of dusitD2 suicide bomber Mahir Riziki also say he vanished from home only for them to learn of his death from news reports.

“We tried to speak to him when he had joined the terrorists, but he did not listen to any of us. His actions have pained his elderly mother,” says a relative who agreed to speak on condition that we do not reveal his identity.

Police at the Coast say they are working with county governments to help youths who are vulnerable to joining terror groups.

“The counter violent extremism programme is what we are banking on. We are working as a team with other agencies to ensure we save this society,” says Coast regional police boss Gabriel Musau.

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Tomorrow: How fiery cleric Aboud Rogo lured hundreds of youths to their ruin, before an assassin’s bullet ended his life.

Also, the inside story of Jaysh Ayman, Al-shabaab’s terror wing in Kenya