Somali Islamists boycott Coke

Posted By Ben Fryer Tuesday, July 11, 2006 - 12:19 PM Share

After struggling to line up investors to finance an $8.3 million plant in Somalia and maintain a security force to protect it, Coca-Cola now faces a new challenge in the country: religious prohibition. Several prominent members of the Islamic courts in Mogadishu have declared Coke an un-Islamic beverage, putting Coke in the business of fighting not only for market share, but for Muslim hearts and minds too.

While the edict might strike the funny bone of some Western observers, the response of some Somalis to the command underscores the resentment many locals feel toward U.S.-supported secular warlords in the still-raging battle for Mogadishu's streets. Omar Hussein Omar, a Mogadishu tea shop owner, said religious leaders convinced him to give up the beverage:

Out of ignorance, I was selling and drinking Coca-Cola, but now I hate it so much."

and another:

If I had the power, I would destroy the Coke plant in Mogadishu, because they are generating hard currency for our worst enemy," said another Coke detractor, Talha Kheyr Abdulla, an English teacher.

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