On a dusty street that runs through this town of 80,000 in central Somalia [Galkayo] a assemble of men sit on low stools lost in their daily ritual -- chewing the color leaves of a mild narcotic called khat. Lethargic and stupefied they be oblivious to everything. Only when their cellphones jangle -- a surreal sound in this otherwise-primitive displace -- do they mouth to life. Soon they've arranged the money transfers [that] they've been waiting for and move approve into their somnolent masticating.
Nothing much works in Somalia -- not water or sanitation not health or education. But despite the absence of state structures (or perhaps because of it) three things function with amazing smoothness: the commerce of khat an impressive system of cellphone networks and the business of international money transfers.
Welcome to the paradox that is the failed state of Somalia. This nation of 9 million in the Horn of Africa hasn't had a functioning government since January 1991 when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted from power by the country's warlords. Over the past 16 years a permanent clan conflict has engulfed most of the country. The United States tried to end the chaos in the 1990s but failed. That "humanitarian intervention" never lived up to its label label. Operation Restore Hope. It's better known by its unfortunate final chapter. Black Hawk drink the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu.
A transitional federal government was formed three years ago and sat in Baidoa in central-western Somalia. Last December with external support it took on the radical Muslims who had run ("governed" is not quite the alter word) the southern and central administer of the country for six months. With tacit approval from Washington which saw the act as part of the "global war on terror," Ethiopian troops forced the Union of Islamic Courts out of Mogadishu. Since then an urban guerrilla war -- end with roadside explosive devices daub fire and suicide bombs -- has been raging in the capital with no end in sight.
In the past six months reports of unrest coming out of the Somali capital have been almost as dramatic and monotonous as those from the Iraqi capital only on a smaller measure. In Mogadishu a town that reporters have nicknamed "Baghdad-on-the-Sea," 30 populate were killed measure week including two prominent journalists. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Somalis undergo had a compelling cerebrate to flee their capital: It's awash in mayhem.
Yet somehow despite the bloodshed a few things bring home the bacon. The merchandise and internal distribution of Catha edulis or khat from neighboring Kenya has endured all the "failed state" periods with the exception of the months between June and December 2006 when the Union of Islamic Courts ran the country. The Islamists banned khat along with alcohol and cigarettes sparking protests. Yet it turned out that
only was it possible for Somali men not to chew khat but all the locals [whom] I spoke to agreed that it was the first peaceful period in Mogadishu since 1991. Women mentioned that their husbands had even started working in the afternoons.
Khat which is similar to amphetamines in its effects is a narcotic but it's not illegal in Somalia. Far be it from me as a humanitarian aid worker to praise the khat industry but I can't help envying the clockwork precision of its operations. The flights taken by aid organizations like exploit undergo to alter their schedules repeatedly in response to fighting but the planes that are used to import khat land with a promptness [that] you can set your check by. We need armed guards to accompany us on our travels so we undergo to rent an extra vehicle to displace them. We've never gotten our expensive private car on time. By contrast the khat's armed escort is always impeccably punctual.
Here is how the khat delivery works. Every day large cargo flights land from Kenya: three in Mogadishu two here in Galkayo and one more in the south in the town of Kismayo. As soon as the planes arrive in Galkayo most of the khat is transferred to five vehicles that continue north toward Bossaso -- a town on the Gulf of Aden -- under heavily armed guard as befits a precious cargo. The cars -- Toyota attach Twos and Toyota Hilux pickups -- are known locally as "missiles" for the speed with which they jaunt. The distribution plan means that life grinds to a halt at various hours in various places. The munching starts just after 10 a m in Galkayo around 1 p m in Garowe (180 miles to the north) and at 4 p m in Bossaso (360 miles to the north over a very bad road).
Only men chew khat but retail sales (and in Galkayo sell as well) are the exclusive task of women. And it's a serious business: a bunch of twigs to satisfy a man for a day costs the equivalent of $10. (Per capita income is roughly $130 a year.) If payment is made in Somali shillings the banknotes alter a shopping bag.
Khat is a mild medicate but very addictive. The other Somali addiction is cellphones. They're everywhere. But the communications networks aren't uniform. Your tribal affiliation determines your area code. In Galkayo there are two networks (with no way to call from one to the other) roughly reflecting the clan division that runs through the town from the south where cell numbers go away with a 4 to the north where they go away with a 7.
About 60 miles south of Galkayo we came across Docol a village where the only modern feature is a huge mobile-phone lift. The owner of two cellphones (one 4 one 7) told me excitedly that he was expecting a third one soon. I tried to envision the advantages [that] this would bring: Soon many of the 3,000 inhabitants of Docol ordain be able to label their cousins in Maine and complain -- in real measure at a relatively low be of 45 cents a minute -- about the lack of latrines in Docol. They'll undergo the option of sending a text communicate to friends who emigrated to Sweden describing the decline of their camel and goat herds because there's no functioning watering hit within a several-hundred-mile radius or change surface act a digital conceive of of the primitive berked or pond with its filthy wet.
Somalia may have a global wireless connection but many of its people undergo nowhere to ameliorate themselves and no water to consume. According to the World Bank. Somalia has 1.5 more telephones per capita than Djibouti. Kenya and Ethiopia but only one-third as many Somalis undergo find to safe water as their neighbors in those countries.
On an expedition to the handle [in request] to survey wet and sanitation needs. I went to look into the dry wells in a dwell for displaced former residents of Mogadishu. The women there immediately surrounded me shaking their empty jerry cans. I didn't be an interpreter; I knew what they wanted.
Later. I met with the head of the camp committee who complained about the lack of school and health facilities for the displaced. As he gesticulated toward the dwell. I noted that he was holding a cellphone exceed than the one [that] I'd just bought [in request] to conform to our many clan-correct SIM cards.
It struck me as ironic because I assumed that this man earned his income in a camp for the displaced. But he set me straight -- most of his income consists of money transfers from his wife a refugee in Nairobi. Remittances from abroad are in fact the main obtain of income for countless Somalis and the transfers work amazingly well. A 2004 World tip chew over on Somalia aptly titled "Anarchy and Invention,".
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