For years Somalia has had its people moved around and displaced by famine and violence, and many have taken refuge in the capital city Mogadishu in makeshift camps. Thousands of these people are now being forcibly evicted by the government as it attempts to “clean up” the capital city. These refugees have nothing left and are merely trying to survive, and their own government is now forcing them to move once more without warning.
These people are the citizens of the government, and yet they are being uprooted after trying to escape so much conflict in order to make the capital city look better. The government has its priorities completely backwards, and is choosing to prioritize the beauty of a city over the health and safety of its citizens. Families have been woken up to the site of their homes destroyed, and told to find somewhere else to live when they have nothing left and nowhere to go.
The Somali government should be trying to help these people who have escaped violence rather than pushing them back into the unsafe areas that the government has yet to gain control. They should be building these people new houses, not destroying them without warning. These people should be protected by the soldiers, not evicted. These soldiers have even opened fire on protesters who wanted nothing more than a place to live.
After fleeing from conflicts in other areas, these people deserve a place to live in peace, and instead they are betrayed by their government, attacked, and are even being moved into the same places that they had to run away from in order to live. Rather than protecting its vulnerable citizens, the Somali government is pushing them right into danger, in efforts to make a city look better. The government should focus more in its people than its appearances. I find the governments actions nothing short of appalling.
Yes, what a heartbreaking situation. Like the conflict in Syria, we stand by and watch the government commit crime after crime against its own people. It happens so many times that it is not strange to wonder if this has just become common practice and no one bats an eye anymore. What could be done to make people aware of this situation in a new way? Think about Adam Johnson - he made people aware of North Korea in a new way through a work of fiction - do you think the same thing is possible with Somalia?
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