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SOMALIA: Christian Aid Worker Beheaded for Converting from Islam

Anti-Christian violence spills into Kenya as Somali Muslims attack in Nairobi.

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 27, 2008 (Compass Direct News) - Among at least 24 aid workers killed in Somalia this year was one who was beheaded last month specifically for converting from Islam to Christianity, among other charges, according to an eyewitness. Muslim extremists from the al Shabab group fighting the transitional government on Sept. 23 sliced the head off of Mansuur Mohammed, 25, a humanitarian aid worker, before horrified onlookers of Manyafulka village, 10 kilometers (six miles) from Baidoa. The militants had intercepted Mohammed and a driver, who managed to escape, earlier in the morning. Sources close to Mohammed's family said he converted from Islam to Christianity in 2005. The eyewitness, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said the militants that afternoon gathered the villagers of Manyafulka, telling them that they would prepare a feast for them. Five masked men emerged carrying guns, wielding Somali swords and dragging the handcuffed Mohammed. One recited the Quran as he proclaimed that Mohammed was a "murtid," an Arabic term for one who converts from Islam to Christianity. Mohammed remained calm with an expressionless face, never uttering a word, said the eyewitness.

Somalia
United as a single country in 1960 soon after the British (in north) and Italians (in south) granted independence to their respective fiefs. Cold war rivalries provided Somalia with ample weapons - first from the USSR, then from the USA - for disastrous wars against Ethiopia and clan fighting. These brought the country to destitution. The corrupt and repressive dictatorship of Siyaad Barre ended in a bloody civil war in 1991 but with no viable alternative government emerging. The country slid into clan warfare with warlords vying for power. Most of the fighting has been in Mogadishu and the agricultural lands in the south, which induced terrible famine. UN intervention in 1992 was a disaster and resulted in humiliating withdrawal in 1995. Anarchy has reigned since then with no national government. In late 2000 a transitional national government was formed in Mogadishu. Somaliland in the north-west declared its independence from Somalia in 1991 but remains unrecognized internationally. Puntland in the northeast has set up its own autonomous government.

Islam is the official religion. Islamists gained influence in both the south and Somaliland and seek to enforce shari'a law. There were many Ethiopian Orthodox refugees in Somalia during the 1970s and '80s.
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