Blogging Somalia's Untold Stories with One Blog at a Time

When a suicide bomber detonated huge truck at Mogadishu’s busiest junction (Zoobe) on 14 th October afternoon, no one expected that more than 500 bodies would have laid on the ground lifeless nor we would have imagined that this would be Somalia’s deadliest single attack or the world’s worst terror attack in modern history. It has been two and half months since that day and there has not been a single day that has passed where I haven’t thought about writing something regarding the tragedy, perhaps I didn’t have the exact words to describe what happened. Every time I open my laptop and try to type the words something clogs and takes me back to the day of the event and I had to stop it there. However,  Sixty eight days later I decided to write a piece to describe the accounts of what happened and pay tribute to the fallen victims and to everyone else who may have been directly or indirectly affected by that tragedy.    The Day's Beauty was Shuttered It was ...

We live in a country were the rights of ordinary citizens are denied, disrespected and sometimes brutally violated. For those who would be angry for what I am about to say you need to read the following Article 21 in our constitution which says “Every person lawfully residing within the territory of the Federal Republic of Somalia has the right to freedom of movement, freedom to choose their residence, and freedom to leave the country.” As civilians living and working in Mogadishu, too many obstacles are placed upon us, we face difficulties in our own city, we sometimes feel like we are foreigners in our own country when you look at the way the security forces mistreat us, the one who were supposed to protect us. In Mogadishu, We, the civilians, are banned from using certain streets and roads not because we are threats or because we are foreigners but simply because we don’t have government Identity Card (ID). Is it possible that the 3 million people living in Mogadishu ha...

Prior my departure from Mogadishu, I asked my Moroccan-Canadian colleague to give me an information about Morocco. Unfortunately, she didn’t knew much about her country of origin since she was born and bred in Montreal,  Canada. My trip was too short, only one week and it was not for vacation. It was for work purpose. However, I was excited and eagerly wanted to have a better sightseeing of one of the top tourist destinations in the continent. My flight departed from Mogadishu around 9am with Turkish Airlines (the only international carrier that’s currently offering flights to Mogadishu). It was the longest flight I have ever had. 15 hours plus 7 hours of transit at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. I rated the TK flight with 5 stars though! The service, the food, the lounge in Istanbul were excellent and beyond my expectation. Around 17:30 Istanbul time, we landed at Ataturk International Airport. I enjoyed those transit hours at the airport as I walked around from gat...

The year 2007 was perhaps the harshest time to the millions of Somalis particularly those in Mogadishu who were already suffering from 16 years of unremitting chaos resulted by the civil war. In that year, the humanitarian crisis in Somalia has reached on a scale which was not seen since the early 1990s. For those of you, who might not remember the context and the crisis in the country at that time, let me give you a glimpse overview. In late 2006, the Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia under the pretext of protecting its own borders from the growing Islamic movements in Somalia, among them Islamic Courts Union (ICU) who controlled the capital city and much of the southern coastal parts of the country. The outbreak of the battel begun on 20 th December 2006 in Baidoa, the fourth largest town in Somalia located about 243km West Mogadishu. On 29 th December after series of deadly fighting the Ethiopian troops together with security forces of the transitional federal government ma...

It might be difficult or unimaginable  for us to understand the evolution of social media and how it is affecting our way of life until we  look ten years back comparing how life was different from today’s picture. The globalization idea which might have been a simple theory over few decades ago is now practically happening in real. From posting pictures, live videos on Facebook and Instagram to tweeting 140 characters on twitter and snapping moments on Snapchat in anywhere and anytime in the world, there is no doubt that social media is now changing our lifestyle into a whole different level. For some people, it is was unimaginable and beyond their assumption at the beginning of the 21 st century that this was possible. Well, it happened. And just to be grateful for these gifts, let me start by thanking Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Facebook, Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams who created the Twitter and the two genius entrepreneurs Kev...

This is one of the most tragic moments in Somalia’s history as more than 500 people and unaccountable livestock animals have lost their lives due to severe droughts that hit the horn of Africa region. According to UN reports, half of Somalia’s population, that is around 6 million people, have been affected by the worsening droughts which has left them without food, water and healthcare services.  The drought has also affected other countries in the region including Yemen, South Sudan and on the western side of the continent, Nigeria. Our society are agro pastoralists and nomads thus heavily depends on the rain. Unfortunately both of 2016 rainy seasons were below normal and the April to June 2017 Gu rains are predicted to be poor, this is according to U.S.-based Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET). I have been following the news of the famine on social media, on TVs and on local newspapers but i was so shocked after I met with survivors of this deadly fami...

no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well 131 your neighbors running faster than you breath bloody in their throats the boy you went to school with who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory is holding a gun bigger than his body you only leave home when home won’t let you stay. 51 no one leaves home unless home chases you fire under feet hot blood in your belly it’s not something you ever thought of doing until the blade burnt threats into your neck and even then you carried the anthem under your breath only tearing up your passport in an airport toilets sobbing as each mouthful of paper made it clear that you wouldn’t be going back. you have to understand, that no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land 222 no one burns their palms under trains beneath carriages no one spends days and nig...