MOGADISHU, SOMALIA, Nov 16, 2006 – For the first time since it degenerated into a war-zone 16 years ago, Mogadishu is experiencing total lack of miraa. Its relatively busy markets, which have been fairly peaceful over the past few months after hard-line Islamists took control of the town, are now sobering up to life without the narcotic leaf. Very rarely do marauding gunmen harass people in the town.

Miraa (khat) has for long been associated with Somalia's instability, and there were rumors that the Islamists would impose a ban on it, citing religiously grounds. They have not done so yet.

The narcotic leaf is chiefly ferried by small planes from neighboring Kenya. These land on makeshift airstrips on the outskirts of the town.  

No less than 15 planes used to land on these airstrips daily.  

An estimated $300,000 has been gobbled up from the Somali economy every day by this trade.  

At first, the Islamists vowed to ban miraa trade in areas under their control. But the nearest they came to this was to ban the purchase and use of miraa during the day over Ramadhan, a month ago. The current ban by Kenya came two weeks after the American embassy in Nairobi warned of possible Al-Qaeda attacks targeting US interests in Kenya and Ethiopia.

En-route to Garissa Lodge

There are now no flights from Kenya to Somalia – not even by passenger planes. This has negatively affected local business as many goods used to leave Mogadishu for Nairobi, where most would find their way to Garissa Lodge in Eastleigh.  

Without a doubt, Nairobi is the key destination of many Somalis as there are no embassies in their country to process their travel documents. Kenya also has many refugee camps where it hosts hundreds of thousands of Somalis.  

Some of these are given resettlement grants by America and European governments. Together with those termed "sponsored refugees", they will find it hard to travel to and from Somalia during the flight ban.

But the greatest victim is miraa trade. Every day, addicts hover around local stalls, to no avail. In one stand that I passed by, I saw a woman trader in deep slumber, obviously tired from waiting for khat deliveries.

Various groups and people interviewed expressed concern over loss of jobs, as miraa trade supported thousands of families. Others said the leaf siphons the country's hard currency and should be outlawed.

Surprisingly, though trade in miraa supports many families here, several people called for a total ban on it. This would be as drastic step in the short term, almost akin to a death sentence to the long chain of dealers – from the Kenyan farmer to the plane owners to the Somalia militias to the traders.

Source: The Nation, Nov 16, 2006