Kenya’s armed forces entered Somalia after the 13 October kidnapping of two Spanish women who were working for at the Dadaab refugee camp to capture the port city of Kismayo and cut off what at that time was thought of as the most vital lifeline for the Al Shabaab.. The abductions were allegedly carried out by Al Shabaab militants.
Fatuma, who was 19 years of age by then, found herself working with alshabab after she fell in love with a 24-year-old food vendor in Mombasa. Her husband came home one day and said that his business was not good and wanted to shift to fishing; ”He said he had friends leaving for Lamu by boat and were willing to have us on board.” She followed him, but the boat did not dock in Lamu. It proceeded further north to Kismayo and no fishing happened.
Her husband walked away after handing her over to strangers who also handed her over to another strange group. She just remained silent, ”They had guns. I was in a forested area, I felt helpless.”
In her second year as an alshabab operative in a night ambush, the Kenyan military overran their camp. Casualties were heavy on the Shabaab side so she ran. A Kenyan soldier found her in her hiding place,”He ordered me to be still. He said if I moved he or any other soldier around would shoot me dead on sight.”
The soldier, and a friend, later came for her, tied her hands and feet and wrapped her in some form of canvas and bundled her onto a vehicle. The next time she saw light, she was being helped out of a lorry in darkness and led into a house.
She was locked in the house but someone would bring food and water twice a day. She was later taken to a house in Garissa town, ”he used to visit me in the house, told me about his life and eventually we became close and he proposed to make me his wife. The solder got her a new ID with a new name and they got married.