Mogadishu (Commentary) — In December last year, Hamsa Abdi Barre, the Prime Minister of Somalia, shared the vision of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud for a prosperous Somalia. “One night, the President went to bed and then moved to a very far place called 2060. ‘That is how Somalia is supposed to look in 2060’, said the President,” Hamsa intimated.
Many people interpreted the Prime Minister’s remarks as a dig at his boss. Others viewed the 2060 vision as unexpected betrayal of trust on the part of Hamsa, who divulged the fanciful plot of President Hassan Sheikh to refashion Somalia in his image.
Having lived in Mogadishu since 1991, President Mohamud has adopted the 1990s warlord mentality that caused untold destruction in the capital. Both Ali Mahdi and General Aideed surmised that controlling Mogadishu was akin to controlling Somalia. This political outlook emerged from the transformation of Mogadishu into sub-clan fiefdoms.
In the 1990s, militias associated with dominant sub-clans would prevent garbage collection in the hope that a foreign NGO would pay them to allow the disposal of neighbourhood rubbish. Hearing “qashin la ilaashanayo” (garbage under protection) was as ubiquitous as “isbaaro” ,from the Italian word sbara —extortion roadblocks known then as “leejo” (borrowed from the Italian word legge, meaning law). “Leejuu qaadan jiray” (he used to operate an extortion roadblock) was a popular phrase throughout Mogadishu. Stories of people who stumbled upon isbaaro abound.
Extortion roadblocks existed in both North and South Mogadishu. The division of the capital city into two halves was consummated in New York in 1992, when the UN negotiated a ceasefire agreement between representatives of Ali Mahdi and General Aideed.
The South-North division of Mogadishu reconfigured the demographic make-up of the capital city. Many sub-clans associated with the United Somali Congress, the armed front that toppled the military regime in 1991 and carved out fiefdoms in the capital (e.g. aagga sub-clan Y), lost in the new politico-geographical delimitation of Mogadishu. Only the two warring sub-clans loyal to General Aideed and Ali Mahdi Mohamed came out on top in rearranging political power and associated benefits.
The road between Wardhiigley and Towfiiq, and Wardhiigley and Boondheere, divided the North and South; it leads to Corso Primo Luglio, which divides Shangaani and Hamar Weyne. Ordinary citizens who happened to belong to a clan in the wrong part of Mogadishu lost their livelihoods and loved ones. The conflict was between political leaders who managed to turn their respective USC militias into loyalists defending their turfs.
Mini-warlords filled the shoes of General Aideed and Ali Mahdi until, in 2006, the Union of Islamic Courts emerged and defeated the warlords who, with US support, rebranded themselves as the Alliance for Counterterrorism in Somalia. Ali Mahdi and General Aideed each had a vision of Mogadishu devoid of citizenship rights and peaceful co-existence. The “dream 2060” vision of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud for Somalia is undoubtedly a nightmare in the making.
© Puntland Post, 2025
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