2.1.4. Social support networks and availability of support to specific groups

Clan protection is still relevant in Mogadishu. Police officers are often from dominant clan-families (Hawiye, Darood, Dir and Rahhanweyn). In their engagement with the population, it can make a difference if a person who addresses the police or is controlled is from a majority or a minority group. Minority group members are frequently harassed. Recently, however, ordinary people try to document abuse by officials including the police through smartphone video or voice recordings and activism on social media, which can create pressure on officials. Otherwise, elders or MPs from influential families still try to interfere in arrests or court proceedings in case their close relatives are concerned. But this happens less frequently than it did a few years ago.120

Much land and real estate, which is increasingly valuable, is bought by well-off returnees from the Somali diaspora and local political and economic elites in Mogadishu. Much of the land and buildings in Mogadishu have been forcefully occupied by militias. Until today, those owning land or real estate rely on clan support. New acquisitions of (private or even public) land are often accompanied by forcible evictions of vulnerable populations residing in informal settlements and camps.121

  • 120

    Zakia Hussen, Telephone interview, 8 April 2025.

  • 121

    Bertelsmann Stiftung, BTI 2024 Country Report — Somalia, 2024, url , p. 30