US African Command (Africom) has confirmed an attack against the town of el-Bur in central Somalia on Monday, saying that they’d targeted a vehicle, destroying it and killing five “al-Shabaab militants” in an airstrike. They had no names for the slain.
Al-Shabaab said that there were civilians among the slain, with some reports saying three civilians were in the vehicle. They named one of the civilians, a noteworthy local poet named Yusuf Dhegey.
The Somali government appeared to confirm that the poet was among the slain, but defended the US attack, saying that his poetry could “incite violence” and had at times been used in al-Shabaab recruiting materials.
US officials have not commented on the poet’s apparent death. While the Pentagon, and Africom in particular, tend to use very loose definitions of “militant,” they are likely to struggle with a narrative in which they had to assassinate an incendiary poet as part of the global war on terror.
Apparently we’re after “militant” poets these days. Sorry, Yusuf, looks like you’ve had a bit too much to think. Busted!