Baardheere Town Comes To Life After Its Liberation From Al Shabaab
Baardheere town, recently liberated by the Somali National Army and troops from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), is teeming with activity after years of subdued life under the Al Shabaab.
The town, situated in the Gedo region and liberated in July 2015, is an important agricultural centre living up to it’s name; Baar meaning “palm tree”, and Dheere meaning “tall”; a reference to the ubiquitous palm trees that have grown expansively in the area.
The river banks are lined by beautiful palm trees and so are the farms of this town that lies at an intersection of all major roads that links Somalia to Elwak and Mandera in Kenya, Kismayo, Baidoa, Barawe and Dinsoor within Somalia.
The town is also known as the centre of Islamic scholarship, as it is for agricultural production. The climate is ideally suited for year-round crop production and boasts of farms of sorghum, corn, onions, beans, sesame plants, tobacco, and fruits such as bananas, watermelon, oranges, papayas, and mangoes.
Entry and exit to and from the town is through an imposing metallic bridge, the Baardheere Bridge, built over the giant Jubba River, which is a year-long source of water in the region.
It is at this bridge that the battle for Baardhere was won when AMISOM troops came calling and Al Shabaab experienced a humiliating defeat .
“The bridge is strategic utility for Al Shabab, they are using the bridge to cross over from the other part of town and go east into the regions around Gedo and the Kenyan border towns of Wajir, El-Waq and Mandere, So this is a major crossing point for Al Shabab. Controlling the bridge controls Al shabab movements in Bardheere,” said Colonel Abdirashid, AMISOM KDF Battalion Commander in Baardheere
From Baardheere the terror group controlled food production and collected tax from farming communities to sustain their operations. They also controlled human and motorized traffic at the bridge, turning it into a toll station and a prime source of funds for terrorism activities.
Before its liberation in July, Al Shabaab operated in Baardheere and neighbouring Dinsoor for over eight years, controlling the lives of locals including their movement, methodically killing them in the guise of maintenance of law and order and slowly strangulating their economy methodically. This choke hold on the two towns also meant they always had the ability to resurrect whenever FGS and AMISOM troops destroyed their capabilities elsewhere.
“Initially when we came over, the locals here were a little bit apprehensive because of the long rule from the Al Shabaab, they were 50-50 in accepting us but now they have seen the profits of us coming over here. Right now, there is a lot of activity going on in town we have a marketplace that is bubbling with activities, we have a livestock market that is going on, we have small entrepreneurship businesses that is coming up and for the first time may be in around eight years, the locals are now able to access television and radios something that was not there when Al Shabaab were in control here,” adds Colonel Abdirashid, AMISOM KDF Battalion Commander in Baardheere.
Baardheere is now back in the hands of the Federal Government of Somalia. Residents who had fled the ruthless Al Shabaab rule have started flowing back to their abandoned homes, farms and livestock.
The Baardheere District Commissioner Abdullahi Nur Hassan said, “The populations were under the siege of Al Shabaab, so they are very happy to the soldiers captured this area and they are doing their own business freely. No one is interfering their affairs but we are targeting the enemies hiding inside them and this issue is doing by the police.”
A resident of Baardheere Mahmoud Ismail Hashi agrees, “There was a lot of problems coming from Al Shabaab. There were no Aid agencies here, no good life and the people were suffering. From now, the situation is gradually becoming stable, though there is big change still but the population is happy, they got freedom but they need emergency aid”.
The residents here are slowly picking up the pieces; tilling their land in readiness for the rains and restocking abandoned shops, while the Federal Government starts to re-establish government institutions in earnest and enhance the rule of law.
