
Somali militant group Al-Shabab bans single-use plastic bags - forkLding
https://globalnews.ca/news/4310799/al-shabab-plastic-ban-somalia-al-qaeda/
======
mirimir
If you've ever spent time in places where trash is dumped in the open, the
need to ban plastic bags is totally obvious. I mean, they're everywhere. On
trees, fences, and anything else that snags them from the wind.

Also, I gotta say, the definition of "terrorist group" is pretty damn
arbitrary. Basically it means "some group that we don't recognize and/or
like".

------
benj111
I'm trying to work out if this is an example of something politicised in the
west, but obvious to most of the rest of the world. Or if they're just blindly
ripping off legitimate government policies to make them look legitimate.

~~~
forkLding
African countries like Kenya have adopted the no plastic bag policy (you can
get 4 years jail in Kenya for using plastic bags:
[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/25/nairobi-
clean-...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/25/nairobi-clean-up-
highs-lows-kenyas-plastic-bag-ban)) so I think Al-Shahab just adopted it from
neighbouring countries to make themselves more legitimate but also because it
is necessary.

~~~
vixen99
More legitimate? Even more?

~~~
forkLding
They are by de facto rule, the legitimate authority/govt/ruler of certain
parts of Somalia (largely due to the fact that every part of Somalia is split
up or fighting each other)

I mentioned "more" legitimate as they want to be seen as the de jure govt and
not just de facto through doing things normal govts would or might do.

You can check out Somalia's territory map here which includes Al-Shabaab:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-
Shabaab_(militant_group)#/m...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-
Shabaab_\(militant_group\)#/media/File:Somalia_map_states_regions_districts.png)

