When Mogadishu’s Elites Retreat to Marinaio

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud urged that political views be aired freely and without the threat of violence.

Mogadishu (Commentary) — Why does Marinaio, the former headquarters of the Somali Navy in the Abdulaziz District of Mogadishu, turn into a political foxhole whenever the going gets tough for some Mogadishu heavyweights?

Twenty years ago, warlords who cobbled together the so-called Alliance for Counter-Terrorism fled to North Mogadishu when the Union of Islamic Courts swept aside the warlord militias in South Mogadishu.

Few would have envisaged that Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, former President of Somalia, would retreat to North Mogadishu to coordinate with his colleague, Hassan Ali Khaire, a former Prime Minister, an armed opposition against the Federal Government of Somalia.