By Guled Mohamed and Sahal Abdulle
Monday, October 30, 2006
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - After touring the bullet-scarred streets of Mogadishu for two weeks, Mahesh Ayra and Majdi Bashir said they were mesmerised by the business opportunities Somalia's shattered capital had to offer.
The investors have purchased scrap metals worth millions of dollars from a company in Mogadishu and have done so without the help of armed guards -- an unusual step in one of the world's most lawless cities, now enjoying a semblance of order after 15 years of anarchy.
"We have already purchased 27 metric tonnes of scrap metal worth over $5 million (2.6 million pounds)," said Bashir, an Egyptian working for Kuwait-based Dana Group Centre, which includes companies dealing with construction, real estate, food and information technology.
"We will bring in sugar and cement ... We have a lot of ideas and business plans."
Islamists, who control Mogadishu and a swathe of the south, say they have pacified the capital since ousting warlords in June. This, they say, has lured investors from as far as China.
In a country which has seen 14 attempts at effective central rule since the 1991 ouster of a dictator, foreign money is urgently needed to rebuild a devastated economy and dilapidated infrastructure.
Once Mogadishu's streets rang with the whine of bullets and echoed to the rumble of technicals -- pickup trucks mounted with heavy weapons. Today, Islamist fighters quietly roam around.
"We are the first foreign investors to land in Mogadishu," said Ayra, who is Indian. "We are only waiting for security assurance to come and invest here."
"ANOTHER DUBAI"
The Islamists have re-opened Mogadishu's port and airport, where a "Let us build Somalia together" sign hangs high. Both had been closed for over a decade.
The Islamists have also started issuing visas.
Flights to and from Kenya and Dubai are full of curious investors and returning refugees. Passengers are sometimes forced to wait for days to get a seat on the packed planes.
Residents gaze at the aircraft as they land and take off over rusted rooftops and circle over the Indian Ocean.
Yang Jian Zhong came to Mogadishu to purchase rawhide, saying it is much cheaper in Somalia than Dubai, where he used to buy the product for his shoe factory in central China.
He was last in Mogadishu with his Chinese partner Majin Moosa in May when the Islamists were battling U.S- backed warlords in several months of fighting that killed hundreds.
He fled because of the violence.
"We hope to get four containers (of rawhide) ... Everything is new here, it's good for business," Moosa, said on behalf of Yang, who does not speak English.
"I hope this peace will come true for Somalia," he said, sipping local tea. "Somalia can develop into another Dubai. They have good weather, living is cheap and there are a lot of business opportunities."
Yang called on his government, which has a strong presence in Africa, to help rebuild Somalia where millions are jobless.
"I hope the Chinese government helps Somalia. Somalia can develop if peace comes. People can do a lot."
"PEACE BUT NO MONEY"
Somalia has an interim government, based in the provincial town of Baidoa, but the rise of the Islamists has challenged its authority and effectively flanked the Western-backed administration on three sides.
Peace talks between the two sides have taken place in Sudan, and as a fragile calm takes hold, residents hope business opportunities will flourish.
"There is peace but there is no money," taxi driver Yusuf Ali said while driving on a potholed Mogadishu street.
"It is becoming very hard to feed our children. We desperately need big companies to come and help restore our badly damaged roads."
Bashir says Mogadishu residents had a huge appetite for work after years of fighting. He said some women and men had begun cleaning streets and clearing roads on their own initiative.
"It is a sign that people are ready to work, they need money to survive ... We are ready to provide them with jobs they need."
He said his company was willing to teach Somalis other things. "We are even ready to start classes for the people here and teach them how important peace is."
Violence has not disappeared -- a Swedish journalist and an Italian nun were shot dead in Mogadishu since the Islamist takeover -- but Bashir and Ayra said they were not scared.
"We look forward towards conducting healthy and fruitful business in Somalia," Bashir said.
Ayra said they would return with colleagues, such as doctors and engineers.
"Road infrastructure and the health care sector are the priority areas that need urgent funding," Ayra said.
"Our partners will soon come to see for themselves ... opportunities are abundant here."
Source: Reuters, Oct. 2006