Attacked Somali receives a death threat note

By Odette Ismail
29 September 2006

A Somali shopkeeper has claimed that after he was stabbed at his shop in Phillipi he received a letter containing a threat to kill him.

Abdikeni Yusuf told the Cape Times that he had been living in Bellville for three years. When he returned to his business on Tuesday he found a note from the 12 men who tried stabbing and shooting him three weeks ago.

The letter is believed to be very descriptive of how the attackers hurt him and their promise to return to kill him. Yusuf said he did not report the incident because he was too afraid. He explained how 12 men broke off his door on September 8 at nine-o-clock the evening while he and a colleague were busy cleaning up.

His colleague however escaped, but he got stabbed four times. Yusuf was nearly shot but after one of the suspects pulled the trigger it did not go off. Residents heard him shout and contacted the police, but the suspects already fled with everything in Yusuf’s shop.

Director of the Somali Association of SA, Ahmad Dawlo said that everyday they receive reports from Somalis in the Western Cape. He also said that Yusuf’s case would be investigated. Police are since September 6 began investigating the recent killings of Somalis. Dawlo says there are 30 Somalis killed while the police only confirmed 12.