Al-Shabaab Held Territory in Somalia Primed for COVID-19

World Politics Review published on 1 May 2020 an analysis titled "Al-Shabab's Territory in Somalia Is a COVID-19 Powder Keg" by Abdullahi Abdille Shahow, an independent researcher based in Nairobi, Kenya.

In a fascinating piece, the author reports that al-Shabaab has made little effort to implement containment or social distancing measures in the extensive rural areas that it controls in Somalia. In fact, it has resisted shutting down a network of Islamic schools and mosques that it operates. Al-Shabaab's media campaign portrays the pandemic as a divine punishment from Allah, meted out to the nonbelievers across the world for their "evil deeds" against Muslims and jihadists. One al-Shabaab-aligned cleric who is well known in Somalia preaches that COVID-19 affects only the enemies of Islam, specifically referring to China, which he argued was being punished for its persecution of Uyghur Muslims.