Many Struggle To Survive In Somalia’s Capital

“Ali relies on the $200 her son sends her each month from South Africa — and the small profit she makes buying and reselling honey from a bee farm outside of town. But to get to the bee farm, she must take a minibus through a checkpoint controlled by Islamist rebels called al-Shabab.

“It’s not safe to go there, but I have no alternative,” Ali says. “If I had another alternative, I would not do this job, because it’s dangerous. Sometimes they steal your money.”

And, she says, late one afternoon, they killed a fellow passenger.

“They shot a man because he did not participate in afternoon prayers,” Ali says.”

Expats Return To Somalia In Hopes Of Aiding Change

“Prime Minister Mohamed says this marks a new era of accountability.

“We’re investigating who did what and definitely we will bring them to justice,” he says.

It’s also another test for a government that has little legitimacy with the people of Mogadishu. Somalia’s government wasn’t elected but created by a peace process, and its mandate ends in August.

Hogendoorn says unless it shows real progress by then, the United States should pull its support and look elsewhere for a solution to Somalia.”