A WAVE of public outrage has swept through Somalia after an eight-year-old girl, missing for six months, was found living with a man who claimed she was his wife. The disturbing case, reported by the BBC, has sparked widespread condemnation and reignited debate around Somalia’s lack of child marriage laws.
The girl had vanished in September 2024 from her home in Bosaso, in the semi-autonomous Puntland region. Her family later discovered she had been taken by a female relative, who claimed she was escorting the child to visit another uncle. Months passed before a video of the girl reciting the Quran surfaced online, prompting the family to resume efforts to locate her.
She was eventually found in the Carmo area, living with a man named Sheikh Mahmoud. Initially, Mahmoud claimed he was teaching the child religious texts. But as pressure mounted and legal complaints were filed, he admitted to having married the girl—with her father’s consent.
Shock and protests over marriage justification
When questioned by the BBC, Mahmoud defended the marriage by citing Islamic traditions and the Shafi’i school of thought. However, Somali Islamic scholars and rights activists have widely rejected this justification, calling it a distortion of religious teachings.
‘What’s more shocking than the tragedy itself are the allegations of abduction and the fact that her family had no knowledge of her whereabouts for months,’ said Fadumo Ahmed, chairperson of the Somali Women Vision Organisation, in comments to the BBC.
The case triggered protests in Mogadishu and heated debate on Somali social media, with calls growing for stronger legal frameworks to protect children from exploitation.
Police rescue child, investigation underway
Security forces in Puntland intervened on March 25, 2025, forcibly entering the man’s home where he had locked himself in with the girl. The child has since been reunited with her family, and Puntland’s police confirmed that an official investigation is underway.
Somalia currently has no legally defined minimum age for marriage, creating a grey area that enables harmful practices. A 2020 report by the UN Population Fund and the Somali government revealed that 35 percent of Somali women aged 20–24 were married before the age of 18. In 2017, that figure was 45 percent.
Child marriage in Somalia is often driven by poverty, insecurity, and deep-rooted cultural traditions. Despite the alarming statistics, legal reforms have stalled. In 2023, the Ministry of Women and Human Rights presented a child rights bill to parliament. However, lawmakers rejected the draft due to controversial clauses, and no date has been set for its reintroduction.
As the country reels from the latest incident, rights groups and citizens alike are calling for urgent legislative action to protect vulnerable children from forced and underage marriages.
