Somalia’s Federal governments bans Christmas celebrations again

Somali officials have rationalized banning Christmas traditions both as a cultural matter and a security issue.

Officials at the country’s religious affairs ministry said security agencies have been directed to crackdown on anybody they suspect of celebrating Christmas in the Sharia law-run country this year.

He said: “All events related to Christmas and New Year celebrations are contrary to Islamic culture, which could damage aqidah (faith) of the Muslim community”.

There are nearly no Christians left living in Somalia, although a bombed-out Italian-built Catholic cathedral remains a city landmark in the capital Mogadishu. “There should be no activity at all”.

The announcement is seen from two angles by critics, one is to please the rebels al Shabaab, which controlled the capital Mogadishu until 2011 and whose edicts included a ban on Christmas celebrations.

“We are warning against the celebration of such events which are not relevant to the principles of our religion”, Gurhan told the Daily Star, citing al-Shabab as a credible threat.

Al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist group, al-Shabab, is active in Somalia, which is recovering from the state of a war-torn country.

The troops are pooled from 13 African countries.

The only Somali Christians are “converts from a Muslim background”, according to Open Doors, a California-based nonprofit supporting persecuted Christians.

Governments of both countries prohibit public festivities saying they could damage the Muslim faith.

Somalia mostly uses the Islamic calendar, so January 1 is not observed as the beginning of the new year there. The South East Asian nation of Brunei announced a year ago that it would ban citizens and businesses from celebrating Christmas “openly and excessively”.