What Al-Shabaab Understands About Somali Authority

In south-central Somalia, a trader knows what to expect at an al-Shabaab checkpoint. The rate is fixed, set out in a published schedule. The receipt allows passage through the next checkpoint without paying again. If the assessment seems unfair, there is a court the trader can appeal to. This is how a Mogadishu-based NGO director described the system to The New Humanitarian last September. At a federal government roadblock, by contrast, the soldier demands a bribe that he pockets himself, which means the same trader will be taxed again at the next stop, and the next, by men in the […]
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