The Road to Bakara Market, an Imperil one for Mogadishu Residents

Since the outbreak of the recent clashes in Mogadishu between government troops backed by African Union peacekeepers AMISOM, the maps of streets and roads in      Mogadishu have changed, and the main roads, which was crowded with pedestrians and vehicles of public transport and trucks carrying goods became impassable.    
Thousands of Mogadishu residents with good and middle income head to the market on a daily basis to ensure access to daily needs and wants, despite the almost frequent shelling directed to the direction of the market.
Bakara market was found to be the best place for tens of thousands of Somalis living in the Somali capital Mogadishu and nearby cities of Mogadishu and those located in the provinces of Lower and Middle Shabelle, as well as hundreds of thousands of others who are linked to the market in one way or another in all parts of central and southern Somalia.
The recent clashes revealed the inevitable role of Bakara Market to the thousands of people living inside Mogadishu and the nearby cities where the IDPs sought refuge fleeing from the restive capital. They try to access the market in their own way no matter how the price and whatever the sacrifices.

For instance the residents of Darkiinley cover almost 10 kilometers a day to and from the market costing them $10. They begin their journey from South Mogadishu through the territory of Lower Shabelle regions first and then passing Middle Shabelle to reach at the end of the day to Bakara market and return again to  Banadir region, , as if they are trapped in a vicious circle.
Another batch of residents especially from Hamar Jajab and Waberi cut across the deadly zones of the warring groups jeopardizing their lives to reach Bakara market. Many have fallen in this hazardous journey while in search of their daily bread.

With the continued suffering of Mogadishians to access Bakara market to earn a living, no one takes a damn of their suffering and it’s indifferent to them whether this or that party wins. No soul responds to the cries of their tongue for their soul-soothing is only the disturbing sounds of stray bullets and the booming of mortars that do not know the aggressor from the victims. Tweet