In April 2022, Mogadishu-based evaluator Abdi Ali was assigned to Jowhar, capital of Hirshabelle State, to assess a solar energy company. Though just 90 km from Mogadishu, Ali chose to fly. Like many professionals, he feared landmines and roadside bombs laid by Al-Shabaab militants.
As he stepped out of Jowhar’s Mohamed Dhere International Airport, a caller from Mogadishu warned him of a deadly explosion that morning on the road linking the airport to town. “The blast killed some members of the electoral committee assigned to oversee the ongoing election of MPs for the federal parliament,” Ali was told andnarrated to The EastAfrican on Tuesday.
