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joinafrica features |
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Somalia: Islamic
Courts Demolish Wine Stalls
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Militias of Islamic courts
on Tuesday began pulling down stalls suspected of selling wine,
marijuana and other drugs in Somalia's capital, a militia leader
and an Islamic court official said.
Witnesses said the militiamen also confiscated equipment from
two video halls during their effort to enforce sharia -- or
Islamic lawSix people have been arrested accused of dealing in
wine, marijuana and other drugs prohibited under sharia, and
militiamen allegedly found an unspecified quantity of drugs
inside the demolished iron sheet stalls, said Mohamed Duale
Hashi, a commander of the Islamic courts' militias in Mogadishu.
Hashi said militiamen targeted drug dealers also because they
were seen as responsible for robbery and insecurity at a busy
road junction in southern Mogadishu.
Sheikh Ahmed Mo'alin Yusuf, a leader of the Islamic courts, said
the demolitions are the beginning of an anti-drug campaign
organized by the Islamic Courts Union.
"We want to fight against every thing that can spread obnoxious
misconduct within this Muslim community and the use of narcotics
and other toxic drugs," he said.
Many Mogadishu residents rely on makeshift stalls to make a
living selling different goods.
Somalia has not had a government or a functioning economy since
warlords ousted long-standing dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in
1991.
A transitional government was formed last year during peace
talks in neighboring Kenya, but the administration has failed to
relocate to Mogadishu because the city is considered unsafe.
The government is also opposed by Islamic extremists and some of
the dozens of warlords who control some of the country's 53,000
militias |
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