MOGADISHU, Somalia (AXADLE) – In Mogadishu’s bustling Hodan district on a sunny Wednesday, tragedy struck as two young entrepreneurs lost their lives and two more were harmed, adding to a troubling pattern of brutish assaults carried out by Al-Shabaab on businesses in the Somali capital.
As daylight played witness to yet another attack, this grim event marks the eighth in two mere weeks, spotlighting Al-Shabaab’s increasing menace against steadfast shopkeepers who defy their diktat against surveillance systems.
Authorities have insisted businesses install cameras to bolster safety, promising hefty penalties or jail time for those who ignore the directive. Yet, Al-Shabaab threatens bloodshed for any who adhere to these rules.
Beyond just opposing CCTV, they corner traders into paying “zakawat,” a coercive levy masked as a religious obligation.
Owners lament that this racket has infiltrated numerous industries, with even financial institutions entangled in a strategic tango of negotiations with the insurgents over these fees.
“We’re jammed between the hammer of official mandates and the anvil of Al-Shabaab’s killings,” one businessman lamented.
Outside the Somali-Sudanese hospital on Wednesday, a band of women stood defiantly, demanding the government’s action after the businessmen’s bodies were taken there.
“The authorities must shield us or stop giving directives that put us in peril,” proclaimed one woman, choosing secrecy for security’s sake. “We don’t know their killers, but we do know their lives ended in their own shop.”
Witnesses recounted that Al-Shabaab shooters stormed into the Zone-K establishment, executing two entrepreneurs, injuring two more, and then escaping.
“Is risking our necks for CCTV worth it when the state fails to safeguard us?” posed another owner, identified only as Hassan.
Last week, four shopkeepers met similar fates in Dayniile, followed by two more brutal killings in Yaaqshiid, only stoking the flames of fear in the Mercian class.
In a fiery August attack, Al-Shabaab targeted two large marketplaces on Mogadishu’s fringes, sparking heavy financial ruin.
Business leaders opine these violent reprisals were a direct reaction to the surveillance installations at their stores.
Amid escalating extortion and violence, Mogadishu’s business folk live on the knife’s edge, pondering if they dare continue in the ever-looming shadow of these threats.
