Mogadishu’s Land Crisis: Are the Clerics Challenging Power—or Protecting It?

Mogadishu (WDN) — Somalia’s Union of Councils of Scholars has spoken out over the growing number of complaints surrounding land seizures, home demolitions and disputed property ownership in Mogadishu. But for many residents, the statement raises a more troubling question: Are the clerics genuinely challenging the authorities responsible for the crisis, or are they providing political cover for the government?

The scholars have called for disputes to be taken to the courts, for ownership documents to be verified and for citizens to avoid taking the law into their own hands. On paper, those are reasonable principles. On the ground, however, many Mogadishu residents argue that they bear little resemblance to the reality they face.

Critics say Somalia’s judicial institutions remain too weak and dysfunctional to provide meaningful protection in many property disputes. They question where an ordinary citizen is supposed to turn when a bulldozer arrives before dawn, accompanied by heavily armed security forces, to demolish a home before the owner has had a meaningful opportunity to challenge the decision.

For residents facing such circumstances, simply being told to “go to court” can sound less like justice and more like an instruction to surrender.