A Soft Landing

 

When you land in Mogadishu airport, the touchdown along the ocean is such a stunning sight that it takes your breath away for a minute.

Somalia is part of the Horn of Africa with a long coastline extending from the Gulf of Aden and down the eastern coast of Africa along the Indian ocean.  Somalia is interestingly Africa’s most culturally homogenous countries with 85% of the population ethnic Somalis and following Islam. Unlike many countries even the language is common across the country. It is therefore surprising to see the country so torn by conflict. Historically, by virtue of the coastline, it was a trade hub and then colonized by both British and Italian forces. In the 1960s they finally got independence and formed a civilian government. By the end of the decade, a military government headed by Said Barre took over, at the same time countering the move for independence in northern Somalia or Somaliland. By the early 1990s Said Barre’s government collapsed plunging the country into a civil war and conflict which it never recovered from. Attempts to have transitional governments and interventions of the western and African Union forces since 2006, has tried to deal with the insurgency and return some semblance of governance to the country. A provisional constitution was also passed in 2012, however many parts of the country continued to be under conflict with also a rise in the presence of Al Shabab militancy. Even now the federal government is not fully recognized in northern parts of Somaliland and Puntland and the southern- central parts remain conflict affected. Add to this the dimensions of climate change, drought and an economy wiped out from years of conflict and we have the right ingredients for a very fragile state.

So back to me and touching down in Mogadishu or as is known Mogadiscio (leftover Italian colonial influence). The awe at the beauty of the runway was short-lived as I walked into a chaotic terminal building, cleared immigration and was immediately surrounded by porters at luggage collection. There is a carefully crafted local economy of the porters and it is advisable to just use one to help you out the first few times. The other thing is that your cell phone will not work even if you activate its roaming because apparently no global service provider has services here. Thankfully I had been tipped to look for someone who is known as the ‘UNICEF’ porter who actually found me and helped me connect to the driver waiting outside.

The walk out of the airport to the car was a chilling experience. We read so much about the security and here we were walking through a crowded market lane kind of a place to unmarked vehicles lined up outside. Every fibre in my body was screaming this goes against all my security training, but the porter was confidently leading the way and I had no option but to follow. UNICEF vehicles are mostly unmarked, and the drivers just carry a small placard inside for identification so we know we are in the right one. Ofcourse it could jolly well have been a kidnapper with a UNICEF placard and I would not have known the difference and happily gone along only to realise later maybe that my country would be least interested in any kind of negotiation for my release or ransom. Mercifully these thoughts came to me later and not in that moment.

Good news was that it was not a kidnapping and I was then safely driven through bunkered roads and high wall lined streets to the UNICEF compound which would be my world now it seems for as long as I stay here in Somalia. Office and residences are in the same compound and while movements are allowed between compounds inside a larger airport compound, these also can get restricted at security alerts as I would find out soon enough.