New airstrip in Buur Hakaba offers hope — and a test of resilience — in Somalia’s restless south
BUUR HAKABA, Somalia — In the sun-baked plains between Baidoa and the coast, a strip of compacted earth has suddenly become more than a patch of ground. On a warm Sunday morning this week, local leaders and residents cut a ribbon on Buur Hakaba’s first-phase airport — a modest airfield that community members and the Southwest state government say will be a lifeline for trade, education and elections in a part of Somalia long battered by conflict.
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“We have waited for years for an airport in Buur Hakaba,” said Abdiaziz Lafta-Gareen, the Southwest state president, as he stood beneath a fluttering banner and the national flag. “Today we open the first phase, and future phases will expand it into a full international airport with a paved runway.”
Built by a community determined not to wait
The facility is emblematic of a pattern that has become familiar across Somalia: when central institutions are weak or security is precarious, communities step forward to build what they need. Officials say Buur Hakaba’s residents contributed substantial funds to the project alongside state support — a tangible expression of the region’s communal traditions of mutual aid and investment in shared infrastructure.
“The idea came from the president, the funding from the people of Buur Hakaba, and the support from the state government,” Transport Minister Hassan Abdi Nur told the opening ceremony. He recalled traveling the Baidoa–Buur Hakaba road in 2008 and finding it unsafe and neglected — an image that helps explain why air links have become the preferred mode of travel and logistics in many parts of Somalia.
For students awaiting national exams, for election officials transporting ballot boxes, and for traders moving perishables and medicine across a landscape where roads can be dangerous or impassable, the new airstrip promises practical gains. “It will ease the delivery of exam materials for students and secure voting equipment for upcoming elections,” the transport minister said.
Hope shadowed by security realities
The inauguration came amid persistent military operations and a recent surge in attacks by Al-Shabaab, the militant group that remains active across swathes of southern and central Somalia. That threat casts a long shadow over any development project in the region.
“This airport is a bold step,” said Ahmed Macallin Hassan, director of the Somali Civil Aviation Authority. “But airports must be safe corridors. We will coordinate with security forces to protect the airspace and the people who use it.”
Local officials say they have begun consultations with regional security forces and community elders to secure the perimeter, but the practicalities of defending a new and potentially vulnerable facility are stark. Across Somalia, small airstrips have occasionally been targeted or used as bargaining points in local conflicts — a reminder that infrastructure can both anchor development and become a flashpoint.
What the airstrip could mean for the Bay region
Officials and residents alike framed the airstrip as an engine for local economic revival. Buur Hakaba lies in the Bay region, where markets for livestock, crops and small-scale manufacturing have been curtailed by years of insecurity and poor roads. An operational air link could lower costs, speed deliveries and attract investment — if flights are regular and safe.
“Strategically, Buur Hakaba’s proximity to Baidoa makes it a potential hub,” Transport Minister Nur said. “It could boost aviation in the south.”
That is a common argument in fragile states: connectivity begets commerce, and commerce can be a path to stability. But the equation relies on more than a runway. Regular flights, reliable cargo handling, maintenance crews, and secure ground transport are all needed if an airstrip is to become a durable economic asset rather than a short-lived symbol.
Local ownership, global echoes
Buur Hakaba’s story fits into a wider global trend where communities in fragile or conflict-affected countries take the lead in building essential infrastructure — from bridges in Myanmar to clinics in parts of Afghanistan. In some cases, these projects have been sustained and have improved livelihoods; in others, they have faltered without durable security or institutional backing.
Somalia’s heavy reliance on air travel is not new. For decades, international agencies, NGOs and domestic actors have flown people and supplies across a country where roads are often unreliable. The new airstrip is both an acknowledgment of that reality and an attempt to turn it into something more permanent and locally owned.
Residents who gathered for the opening ceremony spoke of practical hopes: faster medical evacuations, more frequent deliveries of goods, and opportunities for young people who have watched their towns wither as trade routes shifted. “We have built this ourselves,” said one elder, voice hoarse from the dust and the afternoon sun. “We must now guard it with our lives.”
Questions that remain
The airport’s future will hinge on a few stark questions. Can local and regional security forces protect the site from militant attack? Will airlines — even small cargo and passenger operators — see a business case for regular service? Will the federal government and international partners provide the technical and financial support needed to upgrade the airstrip into a paved runway and an international gateway, as officials hope?
There are no guaranteed answers. But Buur Hakaba’s new airstrip is already a statement: a community that has chosen to invest in its own future despite adversity. It is a reminder, too, that in fragile states, development often arrives piecemeal — built by residents, blessed by local leaders, and tested on the ground.
As dusk fell over the dusty strip, children chased one another around makeshift barriers while elders traded cautious smiles. The runway will need more than asphalt to thrive; it will need sustained protection, steady funding, and the ordinary bustle of planes coming and going. For now, it has what many projects in Somalia lack: momentum driven by local will. Whether that will be enough remains the pressing question.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
