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Mogadishu

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: African Geography

   SOS Children has projects (including the only paediatric hospital) in
   Mogadishu. For more information see SOS Child projects in Mogadishu,
   Africa
   Mogadishu's location in Somalia
   Enlarge
   Mogadishu's location in Somalia

   Mogadishu ( Somali: Muqdisho, popularly Xamar; Arabic: مقديشو‎
   Maqadīshū; Italian: Mogadiscio), is the largest city in Somalia, and
   its nominal capital.

   Mogadishu lies on the historically important Indian Ocean Benadir
   coast, and the city has served as an important regional port for
   centuries.

   With the 1991 collapse of central governance in Somalia, Mogadishu has
   seen 15 years of fighting by rival militias. However, since June 2006,
   Mogadishu has seen unusual peace and stabiliy, thanks to the Islamic
   Courts Union - though the group is thought by many to be an arm of
   al-Quaida with plans to overthrow the Somali government. With no
   government and an unstable situation, estimates of the city's current
   population vary wildly, between 1.5 and 3 million.

Geography

   Aerial view of a residential area of Mogadishu, with a U.S. Marine
   Corps helicopter in the foreground, December 1992.
   Enlarge
   Aerial view of a residential area of Mogadishu, with a U.S. Marine
   Corps helicopter in the foreground, December 1992.

   Mogadishu is located at 2°4' North, 45°22' East (2.06667, 45.36667).

   The Shebelle River (Webe Shabelle) rises in central Ethiopia and comes
   within 30 km of the Indian Ocean near Mogadishu before turning
   southwestward. Usually dry during February and March, the river
   provides water essential for the cultivation of sugarcane, cotton, and
   bananas.

   Features of the city include the Hammawein Old Town, the Bakara Market,
   and the former resort of Gezira Beach.

   Ibn Batuta spotted Mogadishu in his travels.

History

Medieval East African city-state

   Mogadishu in the late 1800s.
   Enlarge
   Mogadishu in the late 1800s.

   Trade connected Somalis in the Mogadishu area to other communities
   along the Indian coast as early as AD 800. Muslims from the Arabian
   Peninsula colonized Mogadishu circa 900. The relative affluence of
   these settlers made them powerful in Somalia. Inter-marriage with the
   locals produced economically beneficial relationships. Mogadishu was
   well suited to become a regional centre. While the majority of the
   Somali coast is arid, the area around Mogadishu is more suitable to
   agriculture and could support a larger population. It is also the
   northernmost site in East Africa with a good natural harbour.

   The northernmost of the East African city-states, Mogadishu prospered
   with trade with the interior, which spread Islam throughout Somalia.
   Beginning about 1000, trade increased among the Swahili cities of
   coastal East Africa. This trade drove the Mogadishu economy by the
   early 1100s. The origin of the name "Mogadishu" is unclear; one version
   claims it as the Somali version of the Arabic language and/or Persian
   name "maqad shah" (imperial seat of the shah). The historic Mosque of
   Fakr ad-Din, built 1269, still stands.

   Archaeological excavations have recovered many coins from China, Sri
   Lanka, and Annam. The majority of the Chinese coins date to the Song
   Dynasty, although the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty "are also
   represented,"^2 according to Richard R.K. Pankhurst. The trading Zanj
   city-states of the Swahili civilization imported Arabic pottery,
   Chinese porcelain, and Indian cloth. They exported wood, ivory, shells,
   slaves, and iron. Kilwa, which dominated the gold trade from the Great
   Zimbabwe, ultimately eclipsed Mogadishu, Lamu, Zanzibar, and other
   northern cities after the 1200s.

   Trading across the Arabian Sea enabled major ports like Mogadishu to
   prosper during the later Middle Ages. Ross E. Dunn describes Mogadishu
   and other East African Muslim settlements as "a kind of medieval
   America, a fertile, well-watered land of economic opportunity and a
   place of salvation from drought, famine, overpopulation, and war at
   home."^1

   The abundance of food in Mogadishu around 1330 impressed visitor Ibn
   Battuta. He remarked that a single person "eats as much as a whole
   company of us would eat, as a matter of habit, and they are corpulent
   and fat in the extreme."^3

European domination

   Portugal controlled Mogadishu during the 1500s.

   The sultan of Zanzibar occupied the city in 1871. Garesa Palace, built
   in the late 1800s for the local administrator of the sultan, now houses
   a museum and library.

   In 1892, the sultan of Zanzibar leased the city to Italy. Italy
   purchased the city in 1905 and made Mogadiscio (Italian for Mogadishu)
   the capital of Italian Somaliland. The surrounding territory came under
   Italian control in 1936.

   British forces operating from Kenya during World War II captured and
   occupied Mogadishu. The capital of Italian Somaliland fell to the
   British forces on February 26, 1941. The British continued to rule
   until Italy returned in 1952 to administer their former Somali
   protectorate. Education advanced with the 1954 establishment of Somalia
   National University. Somalia achieved independence in 1960 with
   Mogadishu as its capital.

Collapse of government and UN intervention

   A long shot of the abandoned Mogadishu Street known as the "Green
   Line". The street is the dividing line between North and South
   Mogadishu, and the warring clans. Members of the clans (not shown) tore
   down the roadblocks along the line in a show of unity.
   Enlarge
   A long shot of the abandoned Mogadishu Street known as the "Green
   Line". The street is the dividing line between North and South
   Mogadishu, and the warring clans. Members of the clans (not shown) tore
   down the roadblocks along the line in a show of unity.

   Rebel forces entered and took the city in 1990, forcing President
   Mohammed Siad Barre to resign and flee in January 1991 to Lagos,
   Nigeria. One faction proclaimed Mohammed Ali Mahdi president, another
   Mohammed Farah Aidid. The Somalia National University, which enrolled
   4600 students before the war, closed as the educational system soon
   collapsed.

   Intense battling between these rivals and other clan-based rebel
   factions damaged many parts of Mogadishu in 1991-1992 and led to tens
   of thousands of casualties as an intense drought-induced famine ravaged
   rural Somalia.

   A contingent of United States Marines landed near Mogadishu on December
   9, 1992 to spearhead United Nations peacekeeping forces. The United
   Nations sought to capture warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid in 1993 to
   enable the establishment of a transitional government. Somalis loyal to
   him ambushed the peacekeepers and killed 24 Pakistanis.
   Mogadishu, 1993
   Enlarge
   Mogadishu, 1993

   On October 3, 1993, the United States Army Rangers and the army's Delta
   Force went on a mission to capture two of Aidid's warlords. Although
   the mission was successful, five American army UH-60 Black Hawk
   helicopters were shot down during the battle (two in the city [Durant's
   "Super 64" and Wolcot's "Super 61"] and 3 at a safe area), causing
   about 100 United States Army Rangers and Delta Force operators to be
   pinned down in the city, trying to rescue survivors and recover the
   dead. In this Battle of Mogadishu, the Somalis killed 18, one soldier
   three days later in a mortar strike and 1 Malaysian soldier and injured
   several dozen. Estimates put the number of Somali casualties at
   500-1000 militia and civilians dead and 3000-4000 injured. The later
   nonfiction books Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, In The Company
   Of Heroes, and motion picture Black Hawk Down dramatized the events of
   this battle.

   With these casualties, United States President Bill Clinton withdrew
   American forces in 1994. Two factions in Mogadishu nevertheless reached
   a peace accord on January 16, 1994. Heavy fighting, however,
   intensified between numerous warlords and factions for control over the
   city after the March 3, 1995 withdrawal of the last international
   peacekeepers.

   Mohamed Farrah Aidid declared himself president in June 1995 and by
   1996 captured strategic neighborhoods in Mogadishu and some outlying
   territory. Rival militias renewed fighting in Mogadishu and Hoddur,
   Somalia in 1996. Aidid ultimately died in July 1996 from gunshot wounds
   suffered in a street battle.

Mogadishu today

   ‎
   View of a Mogadishu Residential Area, 2005
   Enlarge
   View of a Mogadishu Residential Area, 2005

   Excessive Isbaros {checkpoints} and violence continued to rule
   Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia through the late 1990s and early
   2000s, including the deaths of British Aid workers Dick and Enid
   Eyeington in 2003. Now clans have established territory for themselves
   and claim independence from the Republic of Somalia. All attempts to
   restore state order, by forming transitional governments while in
   exile, have failed.

   ‎

   On October 10, 2004, Somali MPs elected Abdullahi Yusuf, president of
   Puntland, to be the next president. Because of the chaotic situation in
   Mogadishu, the election was held in a sports centre in Nairobi, Kenya.
   Yusuf was elected transitional President by Somalia's transitional
   parliament. He won 189 of the 275 votes from Parliament. The session of
   Parliament was also held in Nairobi. His government is recognized by
   most western nations as the country's legitimate rulers, though his
   actual authority is extremely questionable. Right now the government
   refuses to enter Mogadishu due to security concerns and continuous
   fighting in the capital.

   The worst clan warfare continues on the north side of the city; the
   southern neighborhoods, by contrast, experience significantly less
   violence and more prosperity. Some southern neighborhoods are rather
   safe and affluent enough to contain Somali-style mansions.

   Currently Mogadishu is the only capital in the world where the UN does
   not have access for international humanitarian staff, due to
   insecurity, despite an estimated 250,000 internally displaced living in
   the city. The aid community is especially concerned over the delay in
   the polio and measles immunization campaigns.

Second Battle of Mogadishu

   On 7 May 2006, fighting broke out between Islamist militias and an
   alliance of Somali warlords over control of Mogadishu. The three rival
   groups in Somalia are the transitional government, the Islamic Court
   Union (ICU), and the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and
   Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT). Accroding to the UN report, the interim
   government received arms and up to 8,000 troops from Ethiopia, Yemen
   and Uganda and the ICU receives weapons from Eritrea, Djibouti, Iran,
   Syria, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and even Hezbollah. However accuracy
   of this report is disputed. The United States has in past admitted
   financing of the ARPCT.

   Most of the combat is concentrated in the Sii-Sii (often written "CC"
   in English) district in northern Mogadishu with both the Islamist
   militias and the secular warlords fighting for control of Mogadishu.
   Though the Bush administration has neither confirmed nor denied
   support, American officials have anonymously confirmed that the U.S. is
   funding the ARPCT, due to concerns that the ICU has ties to al-Qaeda
   and is sheltering three al-Qaeda leaders indicted in the 1998 U.S.
   Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. It is believed that this
   al-Qaeda cell was also responsible for a 2002 suicide bombing of an
   Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya that killed fifteen people and a
   simultaneous failed attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner over the
   country.

   The fighting parties signed a cease-fire agreement on 14 May 2006 and
   as of 21 May, the Somali Cabinet suggested that Ugandan and Sudanese
   peacekeepers come to try and improve security.

   The United Nations Security Council has rejected recommendations for
   tighter control of illegal weapons in Somalia and for targeted
   sanctions.

   On 5 June 2006, the ICU militia seized Mogadishu, raising concerns in
   the U.S. due to suspected al-Qaeda links. While the ICU has
   consolidated control over Mogadishu, a transitional UN-supported
   government still exists in Baidoa; it is believed that the ICU may
   attempt to overthrow this government next.

Culture and economy

   Port of Mogadishu, December 1992.
   Enlarge
   Port of Mogadishu, December 1992.

   Mogadishu serves as a commercial and financial centre. The economy
   recovered somewhat from the worst civil unrest although the civil war
   still presents problems. The effective absence of government yields
   free trade without taxes or regulatory expenditures, making business
   relatively inexpensive. Businesses have hired armed militias to provide
   security against gunmen, leading to a gradual reduction in street
   violence.
   Somali Institute of Management and Administration (SIMAD), 2006.
   Enlarge
   Somali Institute of Management and Administration (SIMAD), 2006.

   Principal industries include food and beverage processing and textiles,
   especially cotton ginning. The main market offers a variety of goods
   from food to electronic gadgets.

   Roads link the city with many Somali locales and with Kenya and
   Ethiopia. Private airlines service Mogadishu at various airports within
   and around the city; the intense fighting largely destroyed the old
   international airport, which has been recently reopened with flights,
   the first being a Daallo flight to Hargeisa. Mogadishu leads Somalia in
   port traffic and still serves as a major seaport. International traders
   actively benefit from its de facto duty-free status. However, piracy is
   widespread around Somalia's coastal areas, making it risky.

   Mogadishu, along with some other parts of the former Somalia, is cited
   as an example of anarcho-capitalism. Despite (or perhaps because of)
   the lawlessness, Mogadishu leads East Africa in access to
   telecommunications and the Internet. A modern communications network
   has developed in the city, including local cellular telephone systems
   with international connections via satellite. The lack of taxes has led
   to modern communications prices that rank among the lowest in Africa.
   Numerous Internet cafes have produced an online population that rivals
   all of Ethiopia, Djibouti, or Eritrea. The city also has several radio
   stations, two television broadcasters, and an internet service
   provider.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogadishu"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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