Back-to-back bloody clan battles in Somalia — now spanning 16 years and worsened by nearly a year of insurgency — have wiped out basic services in Mogadishu, where the latest clashes on Sunday claimed the life of a civilian and wounded three others.
The remaining Mogadishu residents, after most were driven out by the latest heavy fighting last month, eke out a living, making do with nearly nothing.
Despite efforts by the government to spruce up the city, cleaning and painting buildings — at least those that have survived years of shelling — garbage heaps make up much of the city’s features while water and electricity remain a luxury.
Still, the endless fighting between the Ethiopia-backed Somali forces and Islamist insurgents has hampered government plans to restore peace and return the seaside capital to its pre-war state.
Since the fall of central government in 1991, the city has been deprived of basic services such as water, electricity and public telephones.
Private electricity supplier Hirsi Omar has kept parts of the war-ruined Mogadishu lit, but many of his customers have fled the recurrent city battles without paying their bills.
Omar is among many businessmen who have set up power generators across the city and nearby villages, taking advantage of the inability of successive rulers to provide basic services.
”Because the city is quite big and the central government collapsed, we had to provide people with electricity. In every village now there is a provider,” said Omar, whose three giant generators supply 800 families with power.
For the 270 kilowatts per hour of electricity he produces, Omar charges his clients eight United States cents per kilowatt.
”Our electricity is on 24 hours. We can bake our cakes and bread, but it is quite expensive even if we receive discounts,” said Fatma Mayor Mohamed, a local resident.
Omar also provides water to about 1 000 families in the city, where water drawn from wells is sold in jerrycans and transported in wooden hand-drawn carts.
With the onset of clan wars, Hussein Nur Ali (60) was forced to abandon his farming business and has resorted to selling well water across the city. Ali said: ”It is good enough to feed my family. Normally I have more that 20 good customers.”
Residents also complain of high commodity prices compounded by the closure of the main Bakara market — a hideout for Islamist rebels and from where they have made several attacks against government targets.
In addition, the near-daily Islamist-led insurgency that has lasted for almost one year since their movement was defeated by government and Ethiopian forces has worsened the misery of the city residents.
The fighting has killed hundreds of people this year and sparked a dire humanitarian crisis described by the United Nations as Africa’s worst.
Nearly 200 000 people fled the war-wracked capital in the latest fighting in November, while at least 600 000 others have been displaced from Mogadishu since February. — Sapa-AFP