Deg deg: Mogadishu is losing her most precious title

[DarthSomali]

Mogadishu risks losing 'Most Dangerous
City' title-
Lasanod Online. Wednesday, June 13, 2012
MOGADISU,(AP)- Mogadishu is at risk of losing a
title it probably never wanted in the first place:
The World's Most Dangerous City..
A prolonged peace in Somalia's seaside capital is
luring back Somalis who fled decades of war.
U.N. workers who have long operated out of
Kenya's neighboring capital are returning. A U.S.
assistant secretary of state even visited on
Sunday, the highest-ranking U.S. visit to
Mogadishu since the time of the military debacle
known as Black Hawk Down.
Minnesota resident Abdikhafar Abubakar fled
Somalia in 1992, leaving behind his family. He
tried to visit his mother twice in previous years,
but each time she said he could not come - it
was too dangerous.
Last week he finally returned to Mogadishu,
where he saw his mother for the first time in
two decades. For this trip he had his mother's
blessing, and she welcomed him home with
tears. He later walked the streets with his
brother.
"One thing I could say about Mogadishu as the
most dangerous city in the world, I've been here
one week and I never felt any danger. When I
was out walking around I wasn't scared. There
was nothing to be scared of," Abubakar said.
Mogadishu's title as the World's Most Dangerous
City was unofficial, of course. But al-Qaida-
linked militants held sway over much of the city
from 2007 to 2011, when full-fledged war
raged with African Union troops. The U.N. and
embassies pulled out in the 1990s, following the
collapse of the last fully functioning government
in 1991.
The city is still full of dangers. Abubakar's visit
was not a tourist's dream: "I didn't see anything
but I could hear some gunshots," he said.
African Union troops pushed out al-Shabab last
Aug. 6, ending the daily grind of war. In the
months after, al-Shabab has continued to
unleash roadside bombs and suicide attacks. But
in another sign of progress, African Union troops
last month took control of Afmadow, an al-
Shabab stronghold on Mogadishu's outskirts
from where insurgents staged attacks.
One major hurdle to overcome still is the
profesionalization of Somali troops taking over
security. An Associated Press journalist last week
witnessed a Somali soldier at a security
checkpoint shoot a woman twice in the leg with
little provocation.
Armored personnel carriers driven by Ugandan
and Burundian troops still rumble through the
city. But with the lack of combat, the military
convoys feel more like heavy security than war-
fighting troops.
And headline grabbing titles aside, it's clear that
Mogadishu is no longer the most dangerous city
in Somalia. That title belongs to al-Shabab-held
cities in places like Merca or Kismayo, where
some of the foreign fighters associated with al-
Qaida have fled, said Robert Young Pelton, the
author of the World's Most Dangerous Places.
"This is the longest period of sustained peace
Mogadishu has seen in 20 years," said Lt. Col.
Paddy Ankunda, the spokesman for the African
Union force known as AMISOM.
The best news for Mogadishu's future might lie
in the port, where deputy port commander
Ahmed Abdi Karie is overseeing the importation
of massive amounts of construction materials.
Land in Mogadishu that a year ago sold for
$20,000 now sells for $100,000, Karie said.
"I keep saying Mogadishu is open for business.
Reconstruction is at an incredible level," said
Killian Kleinschmidt, the U.N.'s deputy
humanitarian coordinator for Mogadishu, who
relocated to the Somali capital earlier this year.
Sports teams and a nascent arts scene have
returned. Beach-side restaurants serving lobster
have opened. Many of Mogadishu's buildings
still look like Swiss cheese from years of warfare,
but the Somali government spokesman,
Abdirahman Omar Osman, argues that
Mogadishu is now safer than Baghdad and
Kabul.
"Mogadishu is no longer the world's most
dangerous city. It's on the peace path now," he
said. "We are working on making it safe for
foreigners to work here as well. The government
is working on appointing the tourism minister to
restore the city's tourism prospects."
Somalia's defense minister, Hussein Arab Isse,
returned to Mogadishu last year after 30 years
of living in the Oakland area of California. He
believes that Somalia's leaders - the men who
have bickered and fought for 20 years - know
that they must work in peace to elect a new
parliament, president and prime minister before
Aug. 20, when the government's U.N. mandate
expires. The returning diaspora, he said, is proof
that Somalis believe in a brighter future.
"They're all returning because people, they want
to come back and they've had enough of living
abroad and they're investing their money. And
that gives you confidence," he said. "A year ago
no one was talking about investing their hard-
earned money in Somalia. Property is
skyrocketing in value, and that's good."
The patients who line up outside AMISOM's
outpatient medical clinic used to come with
gunshot wounds and bomb blast injuries. Today
they come with infections and traffic accident
injuries, said Dr. Leonard Ddungu of the
Ugandan military. Malnutrition rates are down
from last year, when much of Somalia suffered
from famine.
"Patients are happier now. They are not the
dying patients we used to get," Ddungu said.
Justin Brady, the head of Somalia unit of the
United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, is the first head of office
of any U.N. agency to be based in Mogadishu
since international staff left in 1995. Last week
he visited a sprawling refugee camp where more
than 100,000 Somalis live in simple cloth tents.
One refugee told Brady: "You come here to do
nothing."
"If you fly back to Nairobi it's easy to forget
about that. It's much more in your face here
that we have to get something done," Brady
said, adding later: "There's a demand from
Somalis to be here."
More U.N. staff will arrive in coming weeks. The
challenges of carrying out their work remain
huge. No area of the city is rated lower than
"high risk" by the U.N., so U.N. staff have to
travel in military convoys.
Pelton, who also runs the Somalia news website
Somaliareport.com, said he believes Mogadishu
is safe enough for white Americans and
Europeans to walk around.
"It's a very peaceful city. People aren't trying to
kill you," he said. "It had a singular institution
causing the violence and conflict." And that
institution - al-Shabab - has now been removed,
he said.
Abubakar, the Minneapolis resident, was
surprised to find running water and 24-hour
electricity at his mother's house. The 45-year-
old father of eight is considering moving his
family to Mogadishu, though he acknowledged
that living in Mogadishu would be safer for him -
a U.S. citizen but a Somalia native - than most
Americans and Europeans.
"I know it's not safe for a white person to walk
around on foot," he said. "Even if you don't
become a target everyone will be looking and
saying, 'Oh, what is this guy doing here?'"










Mogadishu is safer than Damascus, Baghdad, Kabul and other cities.

[sheekh-Farax-zero]

Ictiraaf-raadis folks must be kicking themselfs in the face

[DarthSomali]

Ictiraaf-raadis folks must be kicking themselfs in the face

Sland still got Laascanood bro.

[waryaa]

although I love to have "worked in the most dangerous city" in my resume, it is a very good news and I welcome it! Now I have to add "ad the time" to that sentence.

Shababs are finished in Banadir - the gov finally got the right formula which is working so far

[DarthSomali]

although I love to have "worked in the most dangerous city" in my resume, it is a very good news and I welcome it! Now I have to add "ad the time" to that sentence.

Shababs are finished in Banadir - the gov finally got the right formula which is working so far

[udun]

Ictiraaf-raadis folks must be kicking themselfs in the face

According to Waagacusub.com, Sheekh Hassan DahirAweys stated this, "“ Xasuuqa Koofurta Somalia waxaa aqoonsi loogu raadinayaa Somaliland.” You can read the whole story here: http://www.waagacusub.com/news/12.06.12.1DahirAweys.htm

[GeoSeven]

although I love to have "worked in the most dangerous city" in my resume, it is a very good news and I welcome it! Now I have to add "ad the time" to that sentence.

Shababs are finished in Banadir - the gov finally got the right formula which is working so far

[GeoSeven]

although I love to have "worked in the most dangerous city" in my resume, it is a very good news and I welcome it! Now I have to add "ad the time" to that sentence.

Shababs are finished in Banadir - the gov finally got the right formula which is working so far

[TheblueNwhite]

[TeAmo]

Why are Hawiyes getting emotional when someone disses Mogadishu like it belongs to them? Either way every Somali no matter what tribe should be ashamed of themselves for not trying to return Mogadishu to it's former glory. So just because a couple of Moryaans were given weapons and xoog yar isku arken everyone is letting them have our capital city? I say every moryaan person who thinks Mogadishu is there's should be kicked out back to their desert regions or Somalia picks another city as a capital because the place is full of filthy criminals who like to shoot people for no reason.

[UlteriorMotive]

Why are Hawiyes getting emotional when someone disses Mogadishu like it belongs to them? Either way every Somali no matter what tribe should be ashamed of themselves for not trying to return Mogadishu to it's former glory. So just because a couple of Moryaans were given weapons and xoog yar isku arken everyone is letting them have our capital city? I say every moryaan person who thinks Mogadishu is there's should be kicked out back to their desert regions or Somalia picks another city as a capital because the place is full of filthy criminals who like to shoot people for no reason.

I thought you were Hawiye?

Trolls nowadays have no work ethic . At least be consistent.

Regardles, stop bringing your BS here. The clan section is if you have an axe to grind.

[TheblueNwhite]

Well put brother UM.

[UlteriorMotive]

[FBISOMALIA]

Why are Hawiyes getting emotional when someone disses Mogadishu like it belongs to them? Either way every Somali no matter what tribe should be ashamed of themselves for not trying to return Mogadishu to it's former glory. So just because a couple of Moryaans were given weapons and xoog yar isku arken everyone is letting them have our capital city? I say every moryaan person who thinks Mogadishu is there's should be kicked out back to their desert regions or Somalia picks another city as a capital because the place is full of filthy criminals who like to shoot people for no reason.

you know all that aid rebuilding comes from turkey and imagine the moryaans blow it again by looting it

its not surprising if thats happen

[TheblueNwhite]