Ahmadiyya Times: Somalia: Islamist insurgent group bans music from radio stations as un-Islamic

When they are not busy at sea in support of the Somali pirating operations, the soldiers of Somalian Islamist insurgent groups are out and about enforcing Music ban at Somalia's radio stations.

Hardline Islamist group fighters

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Int'l Desk

Sources: BizCommunity, BBC, guardian,co.uk

By Ahmadiyya Times Staff

Radio stations in southern and central Somalia stopped playing music on Tuesday, April 13 under a ban imposed by Islamist insurgent group Hizbul Islam. The rebels announced the ban 10 days ago claiming music is un-Islamic.

According to the April 3 orders issued by Hizbul Islam, one of the two main insurgent forces in Somalia, FM stations were given a ten-day grace period to comply or be forced to shut down violently.

Last Friday Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab ordered all Somali radio stations against rebroadcasting the Washington-based news service Voice of America and the BBC's Somali language service as un-Islamic.

The complying broadcasters have reportedly started airing sounds of recorded gunfire, croaking frogs and crowing cockerels to fill the music slots.

Only two radio stations in the capital Mogadishu - one run by the government and another funded by the United Nations and based in Kenya - have ignored the order.

According to The Guardian (guardian.co.uk), some stations used birdsongs or vehicle noises to introduce their programs. “One of the broadcasters aired a recording from a warzone to signal the start of the news, as an ironic gesture," The Guardian reported.

Numerous Somali journalists have been assassinated in recent years and the radio station owners feel helpless and have no option but to comply.

Omar Faruk Osman, secretary general of the National Union of Somali Journalists told the Guardian UK : "Journalists working in these stations have in the past witnessed broad daylight assassination of their colleagues and have now been signaled that they would follow the same fate if they do not obey these oppressive orders."

Islamist insurgent group such as Hizbul Islam and al-Shabab are closely associated with the Somali pirates who do not think of themselves as pirates. Instead, they consider themselves to be devout Muslims with a duty to protect Somalia.

"We are Muslims. We are marines, coast guards - not pirates," stated one pirate to a Reuters news agency reporter.

Similar to Taliban actions in Afghanistan, Somali militants in some areas have banned watching films and football and forced men to grow beards.

-- Ahmadiyya Times staff compiled this report from multiple sources.