CCTV cameras put shop owners at risk in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu

Shop owners in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, are caught between a rock and a hard place by a government directive ordering them to install CCTV cameras outside their businesses to step up surveillance of Islamist insurgents who have a strong presence in the area. city.

The businessmen say that if they put up the cameras they risk being shot dead by al-Shabab insurgents and, if they don’t, they could be arrested by police.

The BBC has changed the names of business owners and homeowners for their own safety.

“CCTV cameras are the reason why they see me at home now,” says former shopkeeper Hamza Nuur, 48, sitting on a sofa with one of his children in his arms.

He tells the BBC he made the painful decision to sell his business to avoid incurring the wrath of both parties.

“They tell you not to remove the cameras from one side and then they tell you to remove them from the other side. Depending on the choice you make, you will have a bullet or a prison cell waiting for you.” adds Mr. Nuur.

The government last year issued a directive to shopkeepers to install CCTV cameras – at their own cost – to deter al-Shabab attacks.

Mogadishu Deputy Mayor Mohamed Ahmed Diriye tells BBC Africa Daily Podcast that the decision has been worth it.

“Before there were four or five bombings a month in Mogadishu, but that’s not the case anymore,” he says.

The government has now ordered residents to install cameras outside homes and apartment blocks, raising fears among many people that al-Shabab could bring its war into their homes.

Since October, al-Shabab has killed four businessmen in 10 attacks linked to the installation of CCTV cameras, according to a leading violence monitoring group, Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (Acled).

The government directive was ultimately aimed at disrupting funding sources for Al Shabab, which extorts shop owners, but retaliatory attacks by the insurgents “have forced many businesses in Mogadishu’s main markets to close their stores.” doors for days,” adds Acled. in a report published on their website.

Nuur says he initially ignored the government 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 I didn’t want to get involved with the government, but they got angry and started threatening me, saying they would ruin my life,” he tells the BBC.

Nuur says that once he installed a CCTV camera, he started receiving phone calls from unrecognizable numbers.

“My body started shaking from the inside. I knew who it was,” he says, referring to Al Shabab agents who have a well-entrenched spy network, allowing them to obtain information on civilians like Nuur.

Nuur says he changed his number, but one morning a young man approached him in his store.

“He lifted his shirt. He had a gun on his waist. He ordered me to turn on my SIM card.”

Nuur says he agreed and the phone rang. The anonymous caller wanted to know if “the government’s demands are more important to you than ours.”

“I didn’t know what to do. The young man with the gun was standing there the whole time. I was thinking, once I hang up on this phone call, will he shoot? So, I whispered a prayer under my breath,” Mr. Nuur adds.

Fortunately, the man “left the store without incident after I hung up the call.”

Nuur says he decided to sell his business after two merchants were shot dead in October.

“There is nothing more valuable than human life,” he says.

Critical of the government’s directive, Mr Nuur adds: “People trying to make ends meet are dragged into a war against a powerful group that even the government has difficulty fighting. Imagine how we feel as civilians.” .

Diriye denies that businesses are closing or that owners are being forced to install CCTV cameras.

However, he acknowledges that some business owners have fears, but says the government is doing everything possible to reassure and protect them.

“The city is calm and businesses are running smoothly,” adds Diriye.

But Asiyo Mohamed Warsame tells the BBC that masked gunmen killed his brother Dahir Mohamed Warsame, 40, in his shop in Mogadishu’s Yaqshid district in October after he installed CCTV cameras under pressure from security forces.

“He left six children, the youngest was only four months old,” he says.

Shopkeeper Ismael Hashi, 33, says he closed his business after anonymous calls from suspected Al Shabab agents.

“They knew my name and more. It was like they already knew everything about me,” he tells the BBC.

Hashi adds that he later received a call from the police telling him to open his shop and when he ignored them, he was detained for a few days before being released.

Hashi says he has reopened his business.

“I still have the CCTV cameras installed by order of the government, but I know that the government cannot protect me if someone decided to take my life,” he says.

“Every time I’m 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 adds.

Sidow Abdullahi Mohamed, 39, tells the BBC he was arrested for failing to install a CCTV camera at his home in Wajir district.

He adds that 14 other people were also arrested on his street.

“We were taken to the Wadajir district police station, where we were detained for hours. We were finally released after someone with a government ID came, vouched for us and took us out,” says Mr. Mohamed.

He adds that he and other residents have installed CCTV cameras, but they live in fear.

“As civilians, we are forced to buy cameras, pay to install them in our homes, and risk violence from al-Shabaab. Is this how the government hopes to win hearts and minds?”