Mogadishu, a Tortured City

[Che -Guevara]

^By his own admission, Somalia was born in 1990. So that all he knows. But you and I both know and old enough to remember there's more to the city and by extension this nation than its ugly recent ugly history

[Maaddeey]

Abwaan, garaad xaal ha qaato!. Waa dhoobanahay, barwaaqada Jamaame aan ku dhex jiraa!.

 

Edit: Adiga moryaanta hadda aadba la soo indha caddahay inaad taageersantahay ee kufsada ilmaha & marwooyinka la qabo.

[Abwaan]

lol@Maaddeey. M oo ryaan labo ma ahan ee waa midkii wejiga BUSTE ku duubta iyo mid aan jirin.

[Chimera]

Raamsade;883576 wrote:

Agreed. Then perhaps we should hold-off all the accolades for Xamar UNTIL Xamar reaches the developmental stage of those cities, don't you agree with me? I agree Xamar has the potential to be special city, a great city, one that can rival other world capitals but it is not there yet. And it won't get there for the next 50 or so years at the very least. In the meantime we should refrain from hyperbole and concentrate on how we can rebuild this city into something greater than it ever was.

But the city was an architectural gem, with a beautiful location, serene beaches, cheap living, excellent night-life, lively fashion scene and hosted numerous film festivals, sporting events and political conventions. Most importantly it was clean and SAFE. Every city needs 'hype', because it creates a certain pride within the people of the city. New York calls itself the 'greatest city in the world', same with London, same with Tokyo. Mogadishu was basically called the greatest city of the Indian Ocean, in terms of beauty, antiquity, culture and political clout, and nobody raised an eyebrow.

 

At least then Somalis were comparing themselves with the rest of the world instead of the tuulo vs tuulo crap we have to endure today. Mogadishu had the potential to be far greater than it was, much greater, but I see no reason why individuals who lived there in its heydey cannot look back at that time with fond memories. Personally, Mogadishu in my opinion should be the pre-eminent city in that part of Africa connecting several continents, but currently we lack the foresight, pride and confidence to exert ourselves in such a way.

 

I'm not sure whether that sort of 'pride' will return or is lost forever.

 

My memories of Somalia/Xamar date back to only mid-to-late 1980s as I was too young to remember anything before that. I succinctly remember more nights without any lighting than nights with lighting. If power supply was that bad in the late 1980s, I don't know how you can say it was improving. And 105 MW is paltry sum for a national capital with more than a million people, assuming the infrastructure was ever developed to get the power from Baardheere all the way to Xamar. I know there were many extenuating circumstances such as development of the city outpacing the capacity of the government to provide services but at the very least I expect more for the claims being made.

Absolutely, but you have to keep a certain persepective. If a country starts at 5% or lower, it will take time and investment before it reaches 80% and above. Mogadishu suffered power outtages, because the new factories, plants and shops consumed a lot of energy, I think 75% of enterprises had electricity. That is almost a full electrification rate for businesses, rare for an African country at the time. The last twenty years were wasted on nothing, the electrification rate was on a upwards trend. You and I, as well as the generation below would be the main benefactors of the infrastructural projects initiated in the 1980s, The Bardera Dam could have been the start of many energy projects.

 

Are you talking about improvised cranes that you find in small ports or traditional cranes specifically designed to off-load cargo containers? If the latter, have any pictures?

Heavy-lift cranes, and HMK 90 cranes, those aren't 'improvised' cranes but at the time used by all major ports. If you were referring to 'floating cranes', then no it didn't have that kind of expensive equipment yet.

 

I want Xamar with decent sewage system, storm drain system so that streets and neighborhoods aren't flooded after heavy rains, sewage and water treatment plants, garbage collection and disposal system, well lit streets with names and numbered houses/buildings so that when I want to visit my grandma Ceebla' Goodir I can input her address into GPS system, I want reliable and steady supply of electricity and water, I want parks, museums, art galleries and other cultural attractions, I want to see an actual plan for Xamar's development rather than allowing everyone to build where they like... these expectations are reasonable with not a whiff of entitlement. If we settle for mediocrity that is what we'll get.

You would have had all that, if the war never happened, Just look at the prewar sewerage and drainage projects, the water-supply projects, the careful urban planning, the maintainance and cleanliness culture steadily ingrained into the people. More parks would have been build, the promenades would have been upgraded, the big museum would be expanded once again, the film festivals would be celebrating their 30th and 50th anniversaries. The beaches would be top tourist destinations, etc. At least then we were going somewhere, now we start at zero.

 

Your concerns are all valid, but what you did in the first post is tantamount to dismissing 1980s Kuala Lumpur because of the power-outtages and the lack of services back then that the city currently enjoys in our time. They got their through peace, city-pride and foresight.

[Alpha Blondy]

i wish xamari all the best for the future.