Somalia-based Islamic insurgency Al-Shabab has ordered traditional leaders to adopt a new dress code.
They did not specify what the new dress code would entail.
According to Al-Andalus—a radio station run by the Al-Shabaab jihadists—as of Sunday 159 elders had complied with the order issued a fortnight ago.
The Al-Qaeda affiliated group had ordered all the elders and delegates that choose the members of Somalia’s federal legislative (the lower and the upper chamber – senate) and the state councils to register themselves with militia group within 45 days, according to Al-Andalus.
The elders are reportedly from Hirshabelle, Galmudug, Jubaland and Southwest states. So far, no elder from Puntland, the authority in northeastern Somalia, responded to the jihadists’ order.
Federal Somali government and state officials have repeatedly warned the hundreds of elders and delegates participating in the election process to disregard the orders.
