Somali Poet Braves Wrath of Al-Shabab

[SayidSomal]

Abdirashid Omar, 28, is in hiding after writing a poem criticising the Somali Islamist group al-Shabab, which controls much of southern Somalia and is fighting interim government forces for control of Mogadishu.

 

 

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[SayidSomal]

Extracts from Fatwo (The Decree)

 

Somalia's consuming plague;

The inferno that did ensue;

And the guns that burn and blaze;

For sport, and the sake of fun;

The carnage that devoured and ruined;

Facing down in a pensive stoop; I brood, pensive in thought.

 

Slumped, in a distant droop; Seized by sobs of grief;

Lodged in my core and self; In a feat so shocking in deed;

A butcher that Lucifer unleashed;

The envoy of wicked devil; Bequeathed Hamar a bath in blood

 

Scions of the Somali stock; Since the space of time;

The tragedy that set its march; On Somalia it chose to perch;

Wiping masses in a purging rout;

Forcing them into frenzy flight;

Flowing wild in a second decade

 

This fad of raging cults; First of note; al-Shabab;

The felicity they oft flaunt; Just like the fumes of essence;

That infest the nose and lungs;

Then choke and fog the snout;

They thrive on flimsy feuds;

Conceived in blinding mental fog

 

Scions of the Somali stock; The fanatics of Shabab;

Whatever good they flaunt; Via blasts and fear of bombs;

Is blight, and ravaging plagues;

A taboo, in The Text of Time;

With no grounds in the Holy Book;

So heed the word, and stay advised.

[SayidSomal]

The poem performed in Somali:

 

[SayidSomal]

Listen to a special hour-long BBC Focus on Africa programme marking 20 years since the fall of Somalia's leader Siad Barre on Wednesday 26 January 2011 at 1500 GMT.

[SayidSomal]

Don't forget to listen this supposed one hour special BBC focus on Africa programme today at 1500GMT