‘Hundreds of jobs have been lost and many more will be lost if exports don’t start again. Somalia is suffering because of wars elsewhere,’ said one Somali official. [Ahmed Farah/Al Jazeera]
Elasha Biyaha, Somalia – It is Wednesday morning in a tea shop made of sticks and tarpaulin next to an expansive open air livestock market in the pop-up town of Elasha Biyaha, 16km southwest of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
A group of middle-aged men sit on plastic and wooden chairs, ears glued to a radio broadcasting the 9am news bulletin. The men are camel traders, and they are following the latest news from the wars in Yemen, Syria and Iraq.
The conflicts in these faraway countries have affected their trade and livelihoods badly. Business is slow and the traders say they barely make any money.
“Business was very good when our animals used to be taken abroad,” Musa Hassan told Al Jazeera, surrounded by camels chewing the cud under the morning sun. He has been in the business for more than 20 years.