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A Somali Islamist fighter from Hispul Islam patrols an empty street in Wardigkey, in Mogadishu - Source: Reuters -
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Illegal charcoal exports to Gulf states are a big source of
income for rebel groups in Somalia, injecting millions of dollars
to the war that has devastated the nation, its environment minister
said.
The Horn of African country's environment ministry, which receives
just a $17,112 monthly budget, says the level of destruction the
business has caused is huge.
"These radical groups cut the trees and allow corrupt businessmen
to export charcoal from ports they control, and the money is used
to perpetuate the killing of civilians," Burci Hamza said in the
Kenyan capital Nairobi.
"We cannot wait for security to come while ignoring this
disaster."
The minister said his government is in discussions with Gulf states
and the Arab League to bar charcoal imports from Somalia.
"At this stage, if we convince these countries to stop importing
charcoal, they (exporters) will not have a market."
Hamza, who spearheaded Somalia's signing of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) treaty in December,
said his government would also enlist youths to replant trees in
depleted areas.
"We have to do something; engage the youth in reforestation
projects, offer them an alternative that will have double benefit
for the country; security and preserving the
environment."
Rebels control ports
The UN-backed administration of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed,
which controls just a few blocks of the capital, outlawed charcoal
exports in April 2009, but the order was only enforced at the port
of Mogadishu.
Al Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked rebel group, controls the other
three ports in the south; Barawe, Merka and Kismayu.
The minister warned a human-made disaster was in the making for
Somali which has had five years of successive droughts.
An environmental campaigner who did not want to be named said
residents' attempts at reforestation were thwarted by rebels.
"If we try to replant some trees in the areas they have cleared,
they think we are working there on behalf of other international
organisations. They do not think the residents can take the
initiative," he said.
A truck driver who transports charcoal from across the southern
region to the Barawe port said smaller forests were disappearing
fast as charcoal burners cut down big trees.
"About three ships leave every month from the town of Barawe
alone," he said.
"Big ships wait offshore and smaller boats take the charcoal to
them."
"The cost of this man-made disaster is human lives," said Bashir
Mohamed Abdulkadir, a member of the National Association of Science
and Environmental Journalists.
"The locals should not be overly confident in their traditional
belief that the environment is natural and protected by Allah, they
need to stop this business," he said.
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