By Faisal A Roble

As I concluded my 9-day visit to Puntland in Somalia, Garowe, I could not help but admire how the City has changed since my last visit in 2019. It is an understatement to say that the City has grown by leaps and bounds since then. Owing to the federal system, many Puntlanders are determined to “act locally and think globally,” in that while they focus on their backyard, they work towards national state construction.

Blessed with many paved and asphalt streets, the City’s circulation element and its well-planned street furniture defied my expectations. Intersecting at a right angle and wide roads create a seamless movement of cars. It was a surprise to see that most of the newer streets are designed with pedestrian amenities in mind, therefore providing ample sidewalks to the residents of the City.

Due to the growing demand for housing generated by the returning diaspora, the process of sprawl is already underway in Garowe. Sprawl is described as the horizontal expansion of a city, which results in swallowing up or annexing undeveloped tracts of land outside the traditional perimeter of the city for new growth. In the case of Garowe, the City has expanded all the way to the regional airport. In the opposite direction, two model cities that feature ample housing for different income levels, commercial uses, schools, and mosques are being finished. Mansions sprinkle these new developments. The average prices of both subdivisions are in the upper $250,000. To their credit, these model cities are reimagining Garowo from an outpost to a viable regional capital.

 

 

The road to General Mohammed Abshir Airport of Garow is an example of measuring the degree of sprawl of the city. It takes approximately 20-30 minutes by car to reach the airport. In between are large numbers of subdivided tracts ready for development. Garowe exhibits all the behaviors of a growing young city. And that provides its administrators a rare opportunity to plan before incompatible land use makes planning more difficult.

A challenging task for the future will be providing emerging suburban residents with essential services such as electricity, water, policing, recreational spaces, public parks, expanded sewer capacity, and a range of other critical needs.

Thanks to the sidewalks, which are designed with quality of life in mind, people walk without fear for their lives and those of their loved ones. In the evening, the streets are lively until midnight. Pedestrians fill the generous sidewalks as the hot Jillal sun sets and take advantage of the evening cool air. People walk in threes, fours; it is not uncommon to see larger groups strolling along these generally paved sidewalks. The women in the City are the main users of the new sidewalks.

Self-initiated media, mainly run by young men and women, give you the hope that the genesis of an embryonic participatory governance and free journalism is taking shape. Intellectual salons, as the #MayFakaraan, which, when loosely translated, means “why don’t they think,” are mushrooming and seem to host lively lectures and generate debates about politics, social life, and challenges of state construction that Somalis face. I had an engaging evening with about 50 young intellectuals, university students, and city/district administrators.  We patiently discussed the status of urban growth and city politics in the Somali peninsula. To say the least, these discussion platforms or centers don’t shy away from the pressing issues of development, peace, security, and state construction.

It was in this environment that I participated and delivered the opening remarks on behalf of the Board of the Puntland Development and Research Center (PDRC) for the 3rd Annual Conference, which brought together approximately 250 scholars, researchers, and practitioners to reflect on the intersection of climate change, peace, and Somali resilience. The conference, taking place from September 21 to 23, coincided with International Day.

The hospitable environment of the Martisoor Hotel is unforgettable. Martisoor provided the conference participants a great venue for meetings, healthy food, including “Cambulo,” served by exceedingly courteous and respectful employees who always addressed the guests with the gentle sound of “abowe, or Abaye.” The region is so peaceful that participants drove from cities as far as Bossaso, Galkayo, and other towns. Shops are open till midnight, and pharmacies stay open late, so that people would have access to drugs 24/7.

All Somali regions were also represented. It was exhilarating to see young Somali scholars presenting research papers on the intersectionality between Climate Change, Peace, and Sustainability.  The PDRC team organized the conference with one goal in mind – to have an impact on researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in climate sustainability. They did so by sharing with the audience an impactful film prepared by PDRC’s field researchers on how climate change is ravaging rural Somalia and the [traditional] ways they are coping with, including organic and cultural measures to adapt to the challenges imposed on them by the vagaries of climate change. The movie is recommended to all policymakers and practitioners in the field for the simple reason that it is a laudable message from the masses for help.

With the right investment, the rural people have proven to be resilient and are already implementing time-tested adaptability practices. The highlight of the conference was the panel of traditional elders from various districts in Puntland. This panel imparted to us a valuable lesson on how our rural people cope with droughts, expanding dunes, and the extraordinarily erratic flooding in the Nugal area. Moreover, the papers presented were scientific papers that inspired participants with the resilience of the young post-civil war Somali generation. Conferences like the one PDRC hosted, free of political interference, must be encouraged by Federal Member States and the Federal Government.

Politics is a passion here, and the awareness of the people about the troubled geopolitics and the weak state of the Somali nation is never lost by the City’s bustling shopkeepers, taxi drivers, waitresses, and the elite as well. Everyone here is aware and passionately engaged in the war against the worldwide terrorist group of ISIS, locally known as Daesh. The region’s residents seem to have turned inward (mind their own business and utilize their own resources), while giving due attention and respect to national issues. State reconstruction dominated the local conversation. One day before I departed Garowe, the City was mourning for General Ahmed Ali Qarjab Qarba, who lost his love on the battlefield. He was killed by a blast that was buried in the sand and not detected by the troops he was leading. He was a remarkable soldier with about 40 years of soldiering experience.

The raging conflicts in neighboring Ethiopia, Sudan, and the often-admired “Kenyan magic”, as they put it, never escape from their conversations. There is a shared concern that war in Ethiopia or between Ethiopia and Eritrea could release a torrent of refugees. No one wishes a negative future for their neighbours, but the fear of hundreds of thousands of refugees coming to their country is a subject that everyone worries about.

There is already a large number of refugees from the neighboring country of Ethiopia. Largely of Oromo origin, Muslims by faith, although some are also from the Amhara community, they live peacefully here and work as domestic helpers, farmers, and herdsmen. They earn their livelihood honestly and peacefully.

I have talked to several of the refugees. I always greet them in Afan Oromo and say ”akam Abo,” meaning, “how are you?” I also met an Amhara young man who mans a shop and spoke to him in Amharic.  Hearing such words from someone who knows their language will put the refugees at ease, and they will immediately smile. Instantly, you will see the sense of comfort and ease beaming from their hardened faces after travelling hundreds of miles to get here in Puntland. To be sure, these Ethiopian refugees walked for days without water to get here in search of a better future.

Interestingly, all the individuals I spoke with had adjusted well to their new circumstances. Then, I will follow up with questions about where they hail from. Often, they would invariably tell me that their homes are west of Harar and near Chalenko. I never asked them why they came to Gorowe, for the reasons are obvious: refugees don’t like to reveal much personal information for fear of their lives.

To the credit of Somalis, they are tolerant, accommodating, and less discriminatory. As an egalitarian society, or what Ali Mazrui called “a magnanimous society,” Somalis have given the Ethiopian refugees a new home away from their original home. Without exaggerating, there is also an underlying concern about Somalia’s open borders and the lack of a systematic registration of the refugees. Recognizing refugees with full status and registering them with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will give them protection as refugees, while helping Somalia ease the burden of hosting a large number of refugees.

Despite some of the obvious challenges Puntland shares with the rest of Somalia due to a weak state both locally and nationally, the city of Garowe is growing in the right direction. I like to close this opinion piece with an exchange between me and a questioner at the May Fakaraan discourse. One participant asked me how to make a city that attracts outsiders. One of several answers I gave was for Garowo to grow out of the “Goof” culture. “Goof” culture is a recent phenomenon in Somali cities across the Horn of Africa, where one clan claims to be the sole owner of the City and excludes others. For a city to prosper, it has to belong to all and not just one clan.

By Faisal Roble
Email: faisalroble19@gmail.com 
————-
Faisal Roble is a prominent essayist and analyst on Horn of Africa affairs, currently authoring a book on state formation in the region. His past writings have been featured in WardheerNews—where he also served as Chief Editor—as well as in The Ethiopian Review and The Horn of Africa Journal, where he contributed as an editor.