Somali Extremist Group Bans Samosas in Country
Published July 26, 2011
A powerful Muslim extremist group in Somalia banned samosas in the country because their three sides may remind people of the Christian Holy Trinity. Members of Al-Shabaab recently boarded trucks with loudspeakers and announced that the popular pastries are banned in the country, UPI reported. The group did not fully explain its decision to ban the snack that is often filled with minced meats and vegetables, but witnesses told a local paper that their ubiquitous three-cornered shape may invoke thoughts on the Holy Trinity, according to the report.
The Islamic militant group, which controls wide swaths of the country, bans music and watching sports on TV.
The ban comes at a time where 800,000 children could die in a famine that reaches across the Horn of Africa. Aid workers are rushing to bring help to dangerous and previously unreached regions of drought-ravaged Somalia.
The United Nations estimates that more 11 million people in East Africa are affected by the drought, with 3.7 million in Somalia among the worst-hit because of the ongoing civil war in the country.
Somalia's prolonged drought became a famine in part because neither the Somali government nor many aid agencies can fully operate in areas controlled by al-Qaida-linked militants, and the U.N. is set to declare all of southern Somalia a famine zone as of Aug. 1.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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