Ahmed Mohamed Dhore celebrated his marriage to Safiya Abdulle yesterday in central Somalia before hundreds of guests. Somali adolescent girls are often married off to older men.
But it is rare for a man as old as Dhore to marry a girl of Abdulle's age. Dhore says he wanted to marry Abdulle for a long time but waited for her to grow up. He says his children and two other wives agreed to the marriage, as did Abdulle's parents.
Dhore claims to be more than 100, but there is no way to verify the claim. This marriage was his 6th; three of Dhore's wives have died.
(Published 28 October 2009, 16:06 IST)
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