Al-Shabab militants have launched what appears to be a forced recruitment campaign in Somalia’s southwestern regions of Bay and Bakool, according to Somali officials.
The group, which controls large parts of both regions, is pressuring leaders of local villages to make sure teenagers join its ranks, according to the governor of Bay region, Ali Wardhere Doyow.
“They have been holding meetings for clan elders and told them to meet specific numbers of recruits they want collected from clans,” Doyow told VOA’s Somali Service.
Doyow said many families and their children have fled their villages to larger towns in the Bay region, including Baidoa, Dinsor and Bardale.
Abdishakur Yaqub Ibrahim, a regional lawmaker who lives in Baidoa, told VOA that dozens of children between the ages of 9 and 18 have fled Shabab-ruled areas in Bay and Bakool over the past few days. He said some of those who fled are his relatives, including a cousin and nephews.
“I now have 14 such kids who fled who are living in my home; some came to me because they are relatives, some are my clanmates,” he said.
“Three weeks ago, they called the elders and school leaders and said they want the younger boys. They told the elders that the boys will be educated and trained and that they will then fight against the apostates and Mukhtar Robow.”