Meet Abdala Ahmed from Majengo in Nairobi, who was radicalized and later joined the Al-Shaabab terror group at the age of 18. He was promised money and a good life, a promise which never came to pass.
In 2008 after he was convinced that his life would change after joining the terror group. He decided to go to Somali land with the idea that he would fight a holy war and that even if he died, the angels would receive him with joy as a hero.
The journey to the ‘holy battle field’ started from Nairobi with many connections, but immediately he crossed Kenyan borders and landed in Somaliland, his phone, ID and all personal items were taken away.
“When I reached there, I met other recruits. We were asked to change our names to ensure that even if we meet anybody who knows us, they will not identify us. We were told to choose a name on our own. I chose Hashim hence dropping my original name at this point,” Ahmed narrated.
He explains that they met people from other nationalities as far as the Middle East and Europe. The training, which lasted for more than eight months, was very tough, hard and painful. An experience, he says, he will never forget.
After the training, they were taken to Mogadishu for their first assignment. He says this was the scariest moment in his life. He saw death with his own eyes.
“On our first assignment, many of my colleagues died, I escaped death by a whisker on numerous occasions. I believe God was trying to protect me from evil and he was also asking me to stop the war and go back home,” Ahmed said.
He became rebellious and asked his bosses for a chance to go back home. Some of his colleagues who supported his idea of pushing their release to join their families back home were all detained for three months with limited food supply and a lot of torture.
Some of those who were detained with him died in the process, and the remaining few were convinced to go back to the killer group, which they accepted, but Ahmed maintained his stand of leaving the group and going back home.
He was detained at Kismayu for four months, a move he says was aimed at ensuring he is not aware of the current activities in the camps and even if he is left to go home, he cannot disclose exactly what is going on. Defectors like Ahmed often encounter hostility and suspicion as they try to rebuild their lives.
“At this point it was only me and my God. I had no one to talk to. The period helped me build a strong connection with God. I used to read the Quran and pray to God because I knew he was the only one left to rescue me,” he said.
He was dumped on an Island in the Indian Ocean after he insisted on returning home. He met a friend on that Island who had escaped from the camp. He hosted Ahmed and helped him sell his phone to pay transportation costs to cross to Lamu County and pick up a vehicle to Nairobi.
He advises youths to work hard in their own country, adding that there is no war for God but a business that benefits a few individuals while the majority suffer and lose their lives on the battlefield.
