‘Jihadi brides’ are in hell after the death of their husbands

Dorcas Ndombolo. Most of the women are convinced by their Al Shabaab spouses to join them in Somalia with promises of a good life. [File, Standard]

Dorcas Ndombolo Kilingo, 40, and her four children are being held captive by Al Shabaab terrorists in Somalia.

Ndombolo is among the so-called Jihadi brides who are being subjected to rape, torture, and forced marriage after the death of their terrorist husbands.

Ndombolo went to Somalia in early 2013 to join her husband of 11 years, Kennedy Yogan Mwok aka Anwar, a Kenyan who joined the terrorist group to wage war against his country.

Ndombolo and her three co-wives were lured to Somalia with promises of a life of bliss. 

Born in 1978, Ndombolo studied information technology, French, and German at Unity College of Professional Studies.

She went to Karura Forest Primary School and Kasigau Primary School in Taita Taveta, then sat for her KCSE in 1999 at Moi High School, Kasigau.

After college, she was married to Anwar in 2002.

Anwar was killed last year during an attack on the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) camp in Kulbiyow. He was a suicide bomber.

The Al Shabaab fighters turned against his widows.  

Sources indicate that Ndombolo and other women and children are guarded by heavily armed militia. There are plans to marry her off to another Al Shabaab fighter.

Her four children are at risk of being turned into child soldiers for the terror group as Al Shabaab has resorted to using children as many of their fighters have been killed.

Other women being held in Somalia have been identified as Shamim Wanjiru Hussein and Zeinabu Rajab Hassan aka Zainabu Muskari.

A police report says Anwar’s second wife, Zeinabu, from Busia County’s Namukhoma clan, is in the same deplorable state.

Elderly fighter

She moved to Somalia to join her husband in 2014 after she was informed that life was better there.

According to reports, Zeinabu desperately wants to return home to ensure the safety of her child. Sources indicate that an elderly fighter has been identified to marry her.

Some of the so-called Jihadi brides are said to have committed suicide due to their ordeals.

Another woman in trouble is Shamim Wanjiru Hussein, the widow of Omar Patroba Juma.

Shamim was born in 1989 in Dandora, Nairobi, and left for Somalia in January 2015 with her daughter, Faridah. Shamim was first married to Swaleh Kibet, an Al Shabaab operative who was killed in Somalia in 2016.

She was inherited by Juma, who travelled to Somalia through Dar es alaam, Tanzania in October 2013. He studied at State House Primary School, Tala High School, and Mbooni Secondary School.

He was killed on July 14, 2016 during an attack on a Rapid Deployment Unit camp at Mangai. It is reported that Shamim is currently married to another Al Shabaab fighter and the state of her children is dire.

Shamim’s situation is compounded by the fact that she is blind. Despite this, the Al Shabaab terrorists have been tossing her around from one fighter to another.

According to officials, she is in such a bad that she has asked her family and associates to help her get out of Somalia.

Shamsa was the wife of Ramadhan Abdallah aka Manman, an operative from Majengo. Shamsa also joined her husband in Somalia with the promise of a rosy life, but her life has become a nightmare after her husband was executed by Al Shabaab on allegations of spying for the Kenyan Government.

“They all want to come back. They have been calling their families saying they want to come back,” said one official.

According to a senior officer at Kenya Defence Forces, the fate of the Kenyans joining Al Shabaab is certain death as they are used as suicide bombers and front line fighters. He adds that many fighters have been killed in the ongoing offensive in Somalia.

The widows have been neglected by the terrorist group despite the fact that their husbands were killed while fighting for the group, with the numbers rising because the terrorists treat its Kenyan members as dispensable fighters.

A recent security report seen by The Standard says Al Shabaab is increasingly sacrificing the so-called Kenyan fighters on the front line at the expense of native Somali fighters or the Ansaars, who are given low-risk assignments.

This is because the top echelons in Al Shabaab do not trust Kenyan fighters, who are treated with suspicion and their motives questioned. 

Further, Kenyan fighters are prohibited from marrying Somali women ostensibly so as not to dilute the ‘pure Somali pedigree’ with their ‘impure’ lineage and are given less food rations. They are given less time off from the front lines and are sent on suicide missions as a way of eliminating them. They are arrested on flimsy allegations of espionage and face long prison sentences and public executions.

AMISOM forces

Most Kenyan fighters are deliberately put on the front line in battles with AMISOM forces where their chances of survival are minimal, informed officials and reports indicate.

The number of widowed Kenyan women and orphaned children has risen sharply. There are at least 20 known Kenyan widows in Somalia.

The report says the ‘Jihadi brides’ are suffering at the hands of the terrorists and that there are documented cases of forced marriages, rape, and torture.