http://sabahionline.com/en_GB/articles/ ... wsbrief-01As the Benadir regional administration prepares to install solar-powered streetlights on 30 roads in four districts of Mogadishu, officials have launched a public awareness campaign to encourage residents to take care of the lamps.
Mogadishu Municipality is expanding its programme to illuminate the capital city's major roads at night, allowing businesses to stay open late and helping citizens feel safer.
The roads targeted for the new streetlights are on secondary streets in the residential areas of Warta Nabada, Hodan, Howlwadag and Yaqshid districts. Priority was given to the four districts due to improved security as a large number of residents are returning to their homes in these areas, according to officials.
Ahead of the installation, Benadir officials are holding weekly informational meetings with residents to educate them about why streetlights matter to public safety in their neighbourhoods.
"We are doing this awareness campaign before we install the lights so people understand the importance of working towards security and assume ownership and guard them as their own property, instead of viewing the lights as belonging to others," Benadir Deputy Governor Iman Ikar Nur told Sabahi.
Residents should be vigilant and closely monitor youth gangs and suspected al-Shabaab operatives who would want to damage the lights so they can operate under the cover of darkness, Nur said.
The British government has donated more than 100 solar-powered lights, and installation will begin soon by the Nordic International Support Foundation, Nur said.
"The efforts of the Benadir administration are something to be happy about, as they will give us the ability to come outside [at night] and identify people when there is an incident that threatens security," said Sahra Abdi Nur, a 28-year-old mother of four who attended the awareness programme at the Centre for Research and Dialogue in Hodan district.
"Right now every street in our neighbourhoods is dark at night and you would not dare to walk in them," she told Sabahi.
Amina Yasin, a 32-year-old Howlwadag resident, said the streetlights would be instrumental in ensuring security.
"In most cases, members of the anti-peace group al-Shabaab operate secretly at night, sometimes carrying out artillery attacks among the neighbourhood residents," she told Sabahi. However, the installation of these lights will help dismantle al-Shabaab operations and wipe out any remaining capability to fight government forces, she said.
For Mumin Ahmed, a 54-year-old resident of the Warta Nabada district, the lights will help citizens remember Mogadishu's former glory.
"Truly, I cannot remember the last time I saw Mogadishu completely lit," he told Sabahi. "Aside from their importance in enhancing security, they will be very valuable in re-establishing the beauty the capital city was known for. Also, it is good to monitor those who are adversely impacting sanitation, such as restaurants that take advantage of the dark to dump garbage on the streets."
Residents will protect the streetlights from criminals, vowed Mohamed Ali, a 65-year-old Yaqshid elder.
"We will not accept anyone who is against peace or against the installation of streetlights in the streets of our neighbourhoods, whether they are [common] criminals or terrorists -- all of whom benefit from the darkness of the roads in Mogadishu," he told Sabahi.
"I am telling the administration of the Benadir region, you will have satisfied your obligation if you install the lights for us and we are going to be responsible for guarding them, so leave it to us," he said.
