Islam tries to restore order in Mogadishu

[nuune]

Clerical courts backed by business put the squeeze on clan warlords

 

 

* David Gough in Mogadishu

* The Guardian, Tuesday 29 June 1999 02.24 BST

 

 

Ten years after the outbreak of civil war in Somalia, there is growing optimism in the capital Mogadishu that Islamic groups, in partnership with the business community, are on the verge of restoring a semblance of order to the city.

 

In the past month Islamic militias operating under the auspices of self-appointed Islamic courts and financed by business have closed down hundreds of checkpoints set up by the warring factions.

 

Thousands of young men who manned the checkpoints, designed to extort money for the warring factions, have been arrested and imprisoned, in some cases executed.

 

The chairman of the Islamic courts, Hassan Sheikh Mohamed, said this was just the first step towards bringing an Islamic government to the country, ungoverned since the flight of the former dictator Siad Barre in 1991.

 

Eight years of anarchy have left this once beautiful city and its inhabitants in a state of physical and psychological ruin, and if the Islamists succeed in bringing peace to Mogadishu then the people will welcome their political ambitions with open arms.

 

During the worst years of the civil war, from 1991 to 1994, Mogadishu degenerated into a mass of competing clans. Those who had the means to do so fled the city; those who did not remained holed-up in the ruins, eking out whatever life they could.

 

"The situation in Mogadishu had become so bad that we had to do something," said Mr Mohamed, adding that the business community was the source of the £635,000 a month it costs to run the courts. Today Mogadishu remains a fractious, isolated and dangerous place - heavily armed bodyguards are still a necessity for foreign visitors - but there is now a degree of calm. Exiles have returned carrying dollars in one hand and the ambition to take advantage of the chaos they fled in the other.

 

They come to do business in a climate of pure capitalism, unrestrained by government and regulations.

 

"Business is easier now than before the fall of the government. Now all you need is the money to set up," said Abdulaziz Sheikh, director of a telecommunications company which he set up in 1994 with an investment of £158,000, now worth £4.4m and employing some 400 people.

 

Abdi Sabrie, who is building a pasta factory in Mogadishu, said he had little trouble finding the £316,000 he needed for his business.

 

"If you have a good idea, then finding the money is not a problem. The problem for business people is security, and anybody who can prove to you that he can provide security in Mogadishu is your friend."

 

After the collapse of government warlords provided the only security, but they also demand taxes and the inter-clan-fighting that so frequently erupts between them does not create a favourable climate for business.

 

"We haven't seen any progress from the warlords and we are ready to ignore them. They want the country to be like this for ever," said Hirse Mohamed Awale, vice-chairman of the Mogadishu Business Association.

 

"Our power is increasing year by year and now we are able to protect ourselves. We have a strong alliance with the Islamic courts and our arrangement with them is for the benefit of our security."

 

Most of the city's businesses are housed in the central Bakara market: surprisingly, one of the busiest and best stocked in east Africa.

 

Gold dealers rub shoulders with moneychangers who squat on chests stuffed full of US dollars and brand new Somali shillings, printed in Canada and recently arrived in the city.

 

In the past month businessmen allied to the south Mogadishu warlord Hussein Aideed have imported 120bn Somali shillings (£7.6m), a move which threatens the fragile economy with collapse. The shilling has since lost 30% of its value against the dollar.

 

"I am yet to meet a leader in Mogadishu who has the interest of the people at heart, and the business community is the worst section of society," said Musa Sudhi Jalahow, a clan leader whose militia controls much of north Mogadishu.

 

"For them, life is great, but that is because they only care about money. They import expired medicines and foods and they have no ethics."

 

Asked where he thought the solution to Somalia's problems might come from, he tugged at his long beard and said: "Force will be the ultimate answer."

 

 

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