Kenyans Lament Al-Shabab's Recruitment of Youths

The al-Shabab militants who have long battled for control of Somalia also have recruited thousands of young people in Kenya, leaving many families bereft. Al-Shabab recruiters roam Isiolo town, targeting idle youths. In the Kenyan town of Isiolo, a key target of a new al-Shabab recruitment drive, there is agony, fear and lost hope. At a relatively quiet open-air restaurant three kilometers outside Isiolo, several women meet to talk about their fears, their struggles to get loved ones back from the Somali militant group al-Shabab, and how to keep others out of the hands of recruiters. For Zainab Hashi, the wound is still fresh. Her son left home May 1 for what she thought was to be an Islamic retreat. A week later, she received a phone call.

"I lost my son. One day he disappeared, he left here on the first day of this month. He was with four other boys," she laments. The caller told Hashi they were in Liboi, a town on the Kenya-Somalia border. When she asked why her son hadn't phoned, the caller responded that Kenyan security forces had arrested the boys and that her son was afraid but fine.

A week later, her teenage son and three others were still in custody in Liboi, she says, accused of trying to cross the border to join al-Shabab.

Hashi seeks comfort and advice from Halima Hassan, another woman who says her own teenage brother has been with al-Shabab for eight months.

She says before he left, he asked for about $40 for a school trip and that was the last time her family saw him.

Three weeks later, he called home and told his family that he was with al-Shabab, was fine and was making a lot of money.

However, Hassan fears the worst.

"There is no way he can be found. He has become a criminal who has no sympathy and kills people. Even if he came back, he would bring that criminality here," Hassan says, adding she "will pray for God to guide him."

Each time Hassan sees her brother's schoolmates, she feels bad and cries, she says. Hassan has yet to understand why he chose a gun instead of a pen and a book.  (VOA)