The zero tolerance for Christians was epitomised by the words of a Sheik who pronounced a death sentence on them in a 2003 interview:

"... Sheikh Nur Barud, vice chairman of the influential Somali Islamist group Kulanka Culimada...stressed that "all Somali Christians must be killed according to the Islamic law. A Muslim can never become a Christian but he can become an apostate. Such people do not have a place in Somalia and we will never recognize their existence and we will slaughter them". The Sheikh concluded his interview by saying "Somalis are 100 percent Muslim and they will always remain so".