The Banadir community small scale business-owner ‘Aabarima” as he is popularly known was selling candies and cookies when the armed officer from the revenue collection of the Banadir Regional Administration, a Hawiye dominated administration in the capital, demanded a payment of SOSh. 5,000 (an equivalent of $0.25 cents).
“He did not have a single shilling so he complained to the officer and requested to come back later. But the police officer got angry and grabbed his gun, shit at him and left without any concern,” a neighbour Nadifa Nurow said.
“He was the only bread winner for a family of seven young children. Oh my God. Who will be caring his poor kids. There is no justice,” Nadifo adds.
A family member Muhsin said they do not expect any justice for the deceased “We do not expect any justice here. They have power and they are gangs. This is a gangs country.”
The Banadiri community then staged a protest in Hamarweyne market on the afternoon and demanded the government to arrest the killer officer who remains at large.
“It’s one of the heart-wrenching atrocities ever committed in Somalia. This man has been murdered by an armed man (soldier) for 5000 Somali Shillings, which is less than $0.5,” said Alnior Abdi “He’s from the peaceful Banadiri community. Imagine the repercussions if he were from an armed clan?”
The Banadiri community is among the several minority groups in Somalia. They include a low-status and poor fishing community living in the coastal towns such as Mogadishu, Marka and Barawe.
Despite having their own respective seats in the federal parliament, the Banadiri community and the Bantu experience denial and abuse of the whole range of basic human rights including subjection to hate speech, limited access to justice and education, and exclusion from significant political participation and employment.
