Shabaab girl’ details sought

The young woman is said to be a 3rd year medical student in a Sudan university 

By Mwinyi Sadallah,The Citizen Correspondent

In Summary

• Home Affairs ministry says follow ups are being made to verify the girl’s alleged links with terrorist groups in Somali or elsewhere

Zanzibar. The government of Tanzania has said it is still gathering information on Ummul Khayr Sadri,  the 19-year-old Zanzibari girl who was arrested in Kenya while reportedly was en route to join Somali-based Al-Shaabab militants.

The deputy minister for Home Affairs, Mr Pereira Ame Silima, told this paper that details on the girl’s link to terrorist groups were still scanty in the country.

Reports have it that the girl is a third-year student at the University of Sudan pursuing a Bachelor of Medicine degree, under the sponsorship of the Zanzibar  Higher Learning Students’ Loans Board.

“Police are on orders to quickly gather as much information about the girl as possible. This will help us to determine what really has been going on about the girl,” said the deputy minister.

He revealed further that Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ernest Mangu is under instructions  to communicate with his Kenyan counterpart regarding the girl.

“As government, we think it necessary to follow up on the matter in order to ensure that justice prevails and that every detail about the girl is gathered and analysed,” said the deputy minister.

He also noted that the ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation through Tanzania’s embassy to Kenya is pursuing the matter. While the Union government made the revelations, Zanzibar’s Deputy Director of Criminal Investigations,  Mr Salum Msangi, said his office was yet to receive information regarding the girl despite communicating with Interpol in Dar es Salaam.

“Our Interpol colleagues in Dar es Salaam have told us they haven’t yet received official information on the arrested girl since her story appeared  in the media yesterday,” he said.

Mr Msangi, however, affirmed  that efforts to obtain reliable information on the girl were underway.

House helps at the girl’s home on Mpendae Street, Unguja Urban-West Region confided to this reporter that family members of the household are out of the country.

Despite declining to give details about the family, unconfirmed reports has it that the girl’s mother, Ms Talhiya Massoud Salim, had travelled to Kenya to follow up on her daughter’s issue.

For his part, Zanzibar’s Deputy Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Education and Vocational Training, Mr Abdalla Mzee, said his office would issue official statement on  the girl once further details about her are made available.