By John Ikani
The Somali government has banned the use of the name Al Shabaab – which means “the youth” in Arabic – and has asked the public to refer to the terrorist group, which has ties to Al Qaeda, as ‘Khawarij’, a word meaning “deviant sect”.
The Somali Ministry of Religious Affairs said in a statement that the decision is part of the recent military offensive against the group and has banned Muslim clerics in the country from maintaining contact with the formation.
It also stressed that “the dissemination of their harmful ideas, based on murder, suicide and self-destruction is forbidden” and stated that the activities of Al Shabaab “are not based on the Islamic religion”.
The ministry stressed that any contact with the group “is a crime” and warned that “anyone found responsible will be brought to justice”, before thanking the clerics “who explain the correct path designed by the Islamic region”.
“The ministry calls on the Somali people to unite to support the good and to do their duty in supporting the government’s attack against the ‘Kharijite’ groups who shed the blood of the Somali people,” the Somali Ministry of Religious Affairs has reiterated in its statement, published through its account on the social network Twitter.
What you should know
Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, more commonly known as al-Shabaab, is an Islamic fundamentalist Salafi jihadist group which is based in Somalia and active elsewhere in East Africa.
With brazen terrorist attacks at home and abroad, the Somalia-based Islamist insurgent group has proved resilient despite strategic setbacks in recent years.
It is not the first time the Somali government has coined another name for al-Shabab.
In 2015 the government told the media to refer to the militant group as “Ugus”, a Somali acronym for “the group that massacres the Somali people”.
In response, the al-Shabab had threatened to punish anyone, including journalists, who obeyed government directives or used the term.
Last month, the federal authorities banned local media outlets from reporting on al-Shabab activities.
