Shop owners in the Somali capital Mogadishu are caught between a rock and a hard place over a government directive requiring them to install CCTV cameras outside their businesses to step up surveillance of Islamist insurgents who have a strong presence in the city.
The businessmen say that if they put up the cameras, they risk being shot by Al-Shabaab insurgents. If they don’t, they can be arrested by the police.
The BBC has changed the names of the businessmen and homeowners for their own safety.
“You can see me at home now because of the CCTV cameras,” says former shop owner Hamza Nuur, 48, as he sits on the sofa holding one of his children.
He tells the BBC he has made the painful decision to sell his company to avoid angering both parties.
“You’re told not to remove the cameras on one side and then you’re told to remove the cameras on the other side. Depending on which choice you make, there’s a bullet or a prison cell waiting for you.” Mr Nuur adds.
The government last year issued a directive to shop owners to install CCTV cameras at their own expense to deter al-Shabab attacks.
Mogadishu’s deputy mayor Mohamed Ahmed Diriye tells the BBC Africa Daily podcast that the decision has paid off.
“There used to be four to five bombings a month in Mogadishu, but that is no longer the case,” he says.
The government has now ordered residents to install the cameras outside houses and apartment buildings, raising fears among many that al-Shabab could bring its war into their homes.
Al-Shabab has killed four businessmen in 10 attacks linked to the installation of CCTV cameras since October, according to a leading violence monitoring group, Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (Acled).
The government’s directive was intended to ultimately disrupt al-Shabab’s funding sources as it extorts money from shop owners, but the insurgents’ retaliatory attacks “have forced many businesses in Mogadishu’s main markets to close their doors for days,” it adds Acled. in a report published on its website.
The businessmen had to close down the basic items sold in their stores [Mohamed Gabobe / BBC]
Mr Nuur says he initially ignored the government’s directive but was forced to install the cameras after being confronted by members of the security forces.
“I tried to explain to them that I was just a poor man and didn’t want to get involved with the government, but they got angry and started threatening me, saying they would ruin my life,” he told the BBC.
Mr Nuur says that after installing a CCTV camera, he started receiving calls from unrecognizable numbers.
“My body started shaking from the inside. I knew who it was,” he said, referring to Al-Shabab operatives who have a well-entrenched spy network that allows them to gain information about civilians like Mr. Nuur.
Mr Nuur says he changed his number, but one morning a young man walked up to him in his shop.
“He lifted his shirt. He had a gun in his waist. He ordered me to turn on my SIM card.”
Mr Nuur says he agreed, and the phone rang, with the anonymous caller wanting to know whether “the government’s demands are more important to you than ours”.
“I didn’t know what to do. The young man with the gun stood there the whole time. I thought: if I hang up this phone call, he is going to shoot. So I quietly whispered a prayer, “Mr Nuur adds.
He says that thankfully the man “walked out of the store without incident after I hung up.”
Mr. Nuur says he decided to sell his business after two shopkeepers were shot in October.
“There is nothing more valuable than a human life,” he says.
Al-Shabab has been waging an insurgency in Somalia for almost twenty years [AFP]
Critical of the government’s directive, Mr Nuur added: “People trying to make ends meet are being dragged into a war against a powerful group that even the government has difficulty fighting. Imagine how we feel as citizens.”
Diriye denies that businesses are closing or that owners are being forced to install CCTV cameras.
However, he acknowledges that some businesspeople are scared, but says the government is doing its best to reassure and protect them.
“The city is calm and business is running smoothly,” Diriye added.
But Asiyo Mohamed Warsame tells the BBC that masked gunmen killed her 40-year-old brother Dahir Mohamed Warsame at his shop in Mogadishu’s Yaqshid district in October after he installed CCTV cameras under pressure from security forces.
“He left behind six children, the youngest of whom was only four months old,” she says.
Shopkeeper Ismael Hashi, 33, says he closed his business after anonymous calls from suspected Al-Shabaab operatives.
“They knew my name and more. It was like they already knew everything about me,” he told the BBC.
Mr Hashi added that he later received a call from the police telling him to open his shop. When he ignored this, he was held for a few days before being released.
Mr Hashi says he has now reopened his business.
“I still have the CCTV cameras installed as ordered by the government, but I know that the government cannot protect me if someone decides to take my life,” he said.
“Every time I stand behind the counter and someone I don’t recognize comes in, I get nervous and wonder if this is the person sent to kill me,” Hashi added.
Sidow Abdullahi Mohamed, 39, tells the BBC he was arrested for failing to install a CCTV camera in his home in Wajir district.
He adds that fourteen other people on his street have also been arrested.
“We were taken to Wadajir District Police Station where we were held for hours. We were eventually released after someone with government ID vouched for us and took us out,” said Mr Mohamed.
He adds that he and other residents have now installed CCTV cameras but they live in fear.
“As citizens, we are forced to buy cameras, pay to install them in our homes and risk violence from Al-Shabaab. Does the government expect to win hearts and minds in this way?”
More BBC stories about Somalia:
[Getty Images/BBC]
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