MOGADISHU (Reuters) — Somalia’s al Shabaab rebels have banned English from schools in the southern port city of Kismayu they control and demanded teachers switch the curriculum to include Arabic and Islamic studies.

The latest edict shows the disconnect between the al Qaeda-allied rebels intent on stamping harsh laws on areas they control, and Somali leaders who have agreed to hold an election next year even though the internationally backed government barely controls any territory beyond the capital.

The new school ruling also comes just days after the rebels ordered businesses on the outskirts of Mogadishu to rip down posters in English and Somali and replace them with Arabic ones.

Teachers in Kismayu said al Shabaab ordered the syllabus be changed from the beginning of this month after a week of meetings between the two parties.

“We used to teach the students Kenyan, Sudanese or Malaysian curricula which are written in English so that students can understand the material when they reach university,” Mahmud Ali, headmaster of Mohamed Jamac secondary and primary school in Kismayu, told Reuters by phone.