Tension in Marka town as bodies are recovered

Residents of Marka town are now living in fear after several decomposed bodies of people said to have been killed in clan violence were recovered in recent days in the outskirts of the town.

Pastoralists have clashed intermittently for years over access to grazing, farmland and water in the region.

Tension has been high in lower Shabelle region over the past weeks after two clans clashed over grazing and farming fields in outskirt of the Marka town.

This has seen hundreds of families flee the area despite a visible security presence sent to quell the fighting.

Sources told Goobjoog News that traditional elders, clerics and intellectuals are making efforts to ease the tension and hostilities between the two clans in the areas.

“We fear fighting could erupt at anytime because the clan militias are reinforced heavy and the government has carried out no attempts to intervene” said resident.

There had been clan clashes in Lower Shabelle region particularly Wanlaweyn, Kunturawaaray and Bulla-Marer localities have claimed the lives of many people mostly sides.

Arguments over land use, boreholes and pasture have perennially contributed to fighting among Somali clans who are largely pastoralists.