Muqdisho

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Strolling to buy a lollipop in Mogadishu

 

A traffic policeman. Pedestrians. Taxis. Crowded markets and cafes. An absence of constant gunfire. Mogadishu has changed dramatically.

 

It's six months since I was last in the Somali capital - a city then ravaged by famine, swarming with gunmen, and fought over by a lethal assortment of African Union peacekeepers, Islamist militants and clan militias.

 

I won't pretend this is anywhere close to "normal" now. The endless ruins are still packed with displaced families, and behind each busy street thousands of people remain camped out in the most wretched makeshift tents. More are arriving every day - fleeing the fighting and the uncertainty that continues to plague towns outside the capital. There are regular car bombings here too, and suicide attacks by al-Shabab - the militant Islamist group that was finally pushed out of almost the entire city late last year.

 

But the experience of walking through the now bustling city centre - we are still guarded, admittedly, by half a dozen gunmen - has made me appreciate why so many Somalis here, and so many governments abroad, are suddenly talking eagerly of a "window of opportunity" for a failed state that has spent two decades slouching from one catastrophe to the next.

 

Thursday's brief but high-profile international conference on Somalia in London is a reflection of - and belated investment in - that new sense of hope.

 

"Somalis are risk-takers and entrepreneurs. Their lives are restarting," said the city's deputy Mayor, Iman Icar, strolling past the ruins of Mogadishu's cathedral and buying a lollipop from a small stall. A crowd of young children watched us talking, and then switched their attention back to a football game being played in the courtyard of what was once an elegant colonial-era restaurant. "It's sad they are not in school," said the deputy mayor, who went on to call for "billions of dollars - a Marshall Plan," from the outside world to rebuild the city.

 

The sense of calm that has settled haphazardly, over Mogadishu could, of course, vanish very quickly. Somalia has a history of false dawns. The country's feuding elites, ably assisted by a succession of misplaced foreign interventions, have rarely squandered an opportunity to put clan, or region, or profit before reconciliation and stability. But as Somalia's chaos has started to spread - in the form of terrorism and piracy - the outside world has finally shown signs of more concerted interest.

 

Over the next few days I'll be reporting in more detail from this city. I've already spoken to the president of the transitional government and spent some time on the new frontlines outside Mogadishu with Ugandan peacekeepers.

I'll also be looking at Turkey's sudden emergence as a key foreign player here - its officials, aid groups and businesses establishing a significant presence in the city and putting many other nations to shame

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BBC

[Che -Guevara]

My friend called me the other night and told me he walked from Xamar Weyne to Taleex after Maghrib time. It seems things are changing.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Che, ha lagu imtixaamee, haddaa adiga that friend ahaan lahayd, jidadkee soo raaci lahayd adigoo Xamarweyne kasoo dhaqaaqay Taleex soo aaday. Aan aragno xasuustaada Xamar.

[Che -Guevara]

^If I remember right, you will go through Ceelgaab and take Maka Almakurama go past gura Umada, isbaheysiga and Sayidka and reach Gurey/lambar afar and take right on the road that takes you to the carwada. There are shorter ways of course through Hodan.

 

Or take yellow/red cab :-)

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Waa wareey, si qatarsan u xssuusataa, runtii. Jidkaas Carwada ku dhaco Jidka Taleex ayaa la dhahaa.

[Che -Guevara]

^I use to go there often taking caasi from Sanca to Digfeer and come to carwada and Taleex and had relatives in Madina, so that was my transit area.

[Showqi]

Che -Guevara;792314 wrote:

My friend called me the other night and told me he walked from Xamar Weyne to Taleex after Maghrib time. It seems things are changing.

That is a lot of walk, how long did it take him? 2,,3 hours

[Samafal]

Mashallah. Inshallah things will even get better.

[General Duke]

Che -Guevara;792314 wrote:

My friend called me the other night and told me he walked from Xamar Weyne to Taleex after Maghrib time. It seems things are changing.

My friends, ironic that the Al Qaeda groups have failed and under the TFG with the help of the "occupiers" AMISOM, things are coming back to normal. Xamar is experiencing a renaissance and that is wonderful.

[Somalia]

General Duke;792657 wrote:

My friends, ironic that the Al Qaeda groups have failed and under the TFG with the help of the "occupiers" AMISOM, things are coming back to normal. Xamar is experiencing a renaissance and that is wonderful.

The hypocrisy is loathsome no doubt but in some ways it's flattering.

 

Great that the city is recovering.

[General Duke]

^^^^Not sure what you are talking about, but Mogadishu return warms the heart..

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Showqi;792648 wrote:

That is a lot of walk, how long did it take him? 2,,3 hours

Qof Xamar ku barbaaray oo waa hore ugu dambeysayna, that won't be a long walk, but a needed one. Anigaba haddaa Xamar aadi lahaa, Siliga Mareykanka oo degmada Wadajir ku taalo anigoo lug kasoo bilaabay ilaa iyo Kaaraan waaku gaari lahaa without daal because xaraarad iyo xiiso aan Xamar u haayo, inkastoo 2003 tagay.

______________________

 

Turkey - Somalia aid pioneers?

 

Somalia remains a notoriously hard place to help

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But on a windswept hilltop along the coast a few miles south of the capital, Mogadishu, a giant, almost ludicrously neat, brand new tented camp for displaced families stands as a monument to what foreigners can achieve here with the right approach.

 

"We've had no security problems yet," said Alper Kucuk, deputy head of the Turkish Red Crescent delegation to Somalia, as we toured the camp surrounded by our own guards and a contingent of soldiers provided by the local administration.

 

"We have 2,100 tents for 12,000 people. Somalis treat us like their family and we are sure that anyone who has the willingness to do something for them will be very welcome," said Mr Kucuk.

 

In the months since the militant Islamist group, al-Shabab, was finally pushed out of the city by African Union soldiers Turkey has emerged as the most visible foreign presence in Mogadishu - if you discount the green armoured cars belonging to the AU force (Amisom), which still growl their way through the busy streets.

 

While most foreign organisations remain cooped up at the heavily guarded Amisom base by the airport, some 200 Turkish nationals are now living and working in the city on a variety of projects, ranging from construction to logistics and aid.

 

"They are our brothers" is a common reaction from Somalis when the Turkish are mentioned.

 

"While some talk, they act," was how a man called Aden put it to me.

 

He said he had recently returned from Canada to help the reconstruction of Somalia.

 

So why aren't other countries, or the United Nations, more active, and is it fair to criticise organisations for taking big security precautions, given the number of aid workers who have been killed in Somalia over the years?

 

"They could do more," said Mr Kucuk simply.

 

Boots-on-the-ground approach

 

The UK's new ambassador to Somalia, Matt Baugh, still based in neighbouring Kenya, acknowledged that "the Turkish have shown what it is possible to do operationally".

 

"They've brought a really strong political force to bear. They're intimately involved - a real force."

 

Turkey's boots-on-the-ground approach is having something of a catalytic effect on the aid community.

 

"The Turkish aid is setting a lot of pace," said Killian Kleinschmidt, the UN's deputy humanitarian co-ordinator in Somalia.

 

He acknowledged that organisations with Islamic backgrounds "can move better than we can".

 

"It's a constant challenge for all of us to adapt [to the changing security situation]," he said.

 

"We are now making dramatic steps in recent days to enhance our mobility. Some organisations are slow. Some are faster."

 

The humanitarian needs here remain considerable, with hundreds of thousands of people dependent on outside aid and living, in Mr Kleinschmidt's words, "just above survival".

 

The improved security environment in Mogadishu is an opportunity to be seized, but the toughest challenge remains to find ways to reach out to those suffering outside the capital, in areas still under the control of al-Shabab.

Xigasho

[Che -Guevara]

Showqi....I didn't ask him but I doubt it takes that long, certainly not two hours, might be different if it's leisure walk.

[Showqi]

Che, I once had to walk from Shaneemo Nasar to xaafada KPP. I don't remember how long it took me but it was a long walk for me at the time.

 

 

Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar;792869 wrote:

Qof Xamar ku barbaaray oo waa hore ugu dambeysayna, that won't be a long walk, but a needed one. Anigaba haddaa Xamar aadi lahaa, Siliga Mareykanka oo degmada Wadajir ku taalo anigoo lug kasoo bilaabay ilaa iyo Kaaraan waaku gaari lahaa without daal because xaraarad iyo xiiso aan Xamar u haayo, inkastoo 2003 tagay.

______________________

 

Xigasho

MMA, adigaaba nasiib leh oo ku noqday Xamar hal mar. Aniga waxaan ku tala jiraa hadii uu wakhtiga ii saamaxo in aan ku soo wareego magaalooyin badan. Siiba magaalooyinkii aan arkay markaan caruurta ahaa sida: Afgooye, Shalaanbood, Marka, Qoryooley, Janaale, Baraawe, JIlib, Jamaame, Garoowe, Eyl, Hargeysa, Sheekh.

 

Insha-allah one day I will grab one of this and start my tour.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

 

Showqi, sawirkaan aan kasoo qaaday xaafadda Kaasabalbalaare markaa 2003 tagay. Shaneemo Kaasabalbalaare waaye sawirka.