Somalia: Omar's Treacherous Road from Somalia to Italy

Omar* left Somalia at the age of 16 when Al-Shabaab repeatedly tried to recruit him and threatened him and his family.

“In my village, al-Shabaab recruited all the young boys to work with them. They said that if you don’t work with them, you are betraying religion. They would kill people.” He refused and was threatened by the jihadis, and the family decided he should leave the country. He travelled to Uganda where he couldn’t find work, and moved onto Sudan where he worked for a year," he said.

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