Pubdate: Mon, 18 Dec 2006
Source: Khaleej Times ( UAE )
Copyright: 2006 Khaleej Times
Contact:  http://khaleejtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/996
Author: Bashir Goth
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/khat (Khat)

THE KHAT EFFECT: THE LAST BATTLE OF SOMALIA'S ISLAMISTS

THE Mogadishu Islamists' decision to ban Khat, the narcotic stimulant 
that millions of Sumalis use, seemed to run on the lines of the old 
maxim, "A word of truth used with an ill intention".  For long, 
Somalis have been using Khat as a pastime and for generating income 
to feed millions of children in a country where more than 43 per cent 
of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.  Yes, Khat is a 
curse on the economy, health and family fabric of the Somali 
people.  It props the economies of Somalia's neighbouring countries; 
with Kenya exporting $250 millions worth of Khat to Somalia annually 
and Ethiopia earning $60 million a year from Somaliland alone.  Most 
of this money is the remittances sent by overseas Somalis to feed 
their loved ones back home.

In addition to its financial burden, the Khat causes numerous health 
problems; causes family break ups, wastes people's time and energy 
and increases the ranks of the country's unemployed as addiction 
forces millions of productive countryside people to quit their farms 
and livestock to Khat markets, towns and villages.

On the surface of it therefore, it seems any sound thinking Somali 
should applaud such move and thank the clerics for ridding the 
community of such an age-old curse.  But the timing of it may make 
one question the real motive of the clerics.  The ban comes at a time 
when Islamists view Ethiopia and Kenya, exporters of Khat to Somalia, 
as hostile countries and accuse them of siding with the Transitional 
Federal Government ( TFG ) that they want to topple.  They have 
declared a jihad on Ethiopia and they showed their mistrust to 
Kenya.  By banning the Khat, the Islamists have waged an economic war 
on both countries.  It is also a quick answer to Kenya's ban of all 
flights to and from Mogadishu.

Banning the that, however, is different from all the other bans the 
Islamist have imposed on the Somali people such as prohibiting music, 
singing, cinemas, going to the beach for women and even denying women 
to go out of their house without a chaperon.  The Khat is not only a 
narcotic that almost all Somali men and many of the women use on 
daily basis, but unfortunately it is the only lucrative business in 
Somalia that feeds tens of thousands of families.  It is the main 
business for thousands of women who sell the Khat in order to secure 
food, medicine and schooling for their children.  What alternative do 
the Islamists have for all these families one may ask?

Did they think about the reaction of Ethiopia and Kenya? What about 
if Ethiopia and Kenya decide to slap a trade ban on Somalia? With 
Khat replacing tea and coffee as a hard currency earner for both 
countries, it is obvious that both countries will feel the 
pinch.  According to some estimates, Kenya alone would lose up to 
Sh19 billion and an estimated 500,000 jobs.  It is my hope that the 
Islamists have seriously thought about how they would feed the Somali 
people if both Kenya and Ethiopia decide to close their borders and 
airports to Somali trade.

One may also remind the Islamists that when the British colonial 
authorities attempted to ban Khat in Somaliland it only strengthened 
the people's resolve for freedom.  It was also the ban of Khat that 
fuelled the Somali people's resentment of Siyad Barre and eventually 
contributed to his downfall.

Will history repeat itself? Will the Islamists revoke their decision 
when they feel the heat or will they stay the course until either the 
Khat or the Caliphate wins the battle? Only time will tell.  But one 
thing is sure that the world may soon see an exodus of tens of 
thousands of Somali Khat refugees pouring to neighbouring countries 
and even to Somaliland, Puntland and the TFG ruled zone of Baidoa in 
search of their freedom to chew what many Somalis believe to be the 
nutrition of God-fearing people ( quutul awliyaa ).

Khat may also force hundreds of the young Islamist militia's, the 
majority of whom were the former mooryan's ( drug addicts ) of the 
warlords, to desert the Islamists side and join the TFG, thus 
reversing the Islamists hitherto unstoppable advance.  One may not 
rule out, nevertheless, that those that slapped the ban may have an 
agenda to extricate themselves of this brinkmanship by turning the 
Khat into a blessed black market that could fill their war chest.

Bashir Goth is an African journalist based in Abu Dhabi.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom