According to city officials and witnesses, a massive fire engulfed the main market in Hargeisa, northern Somalia, on Saturday, injuring at least 28 people and destroying hundreds of businesses.
According to witnesses, the overnight inferno began near old warehouses in the sprawling Waheen market, a bustling business district of the city.
“The fire started in an old warehouse department and quickly spread through the market, destroying multistory buildings, tea shops, groceries, restaurants, electronics stores, and a meat market,” said Sayid Karama, a witness.
Images shared on social media showed the entire market area engulfed in flames, sending columns of black smoke into the sky above the city, which is located in the Somaliland region of the country.
During a visit to the marketplace, Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi said 28 people had been injured, nine of whom were women, and that no one had died.
Those injured, according to officials, were mostly traders attempting to save some of their wares from the burning stalls.
The cause of the fire is still unknown, though some market traders believe it was caused by an electrical fault.
Abdikarim Ahmed Mooge, the mayor of Hargeisa, said that the market’s narrow streets and hundreds of traders who rushed to the scene hampered efforts by the city’s small brigade of firefighters to quickly put out the fire.
“This was Hargeisa’s economic center, and even though the firefighters did everything they could to put out the fire, the market was destroyed, and this city has never seen such a massive calamity,” Mooge said. “We feel the same pain as the Hargeisa traders who lost their belongings in the fire. We must demonstrate to the world that we have persevered because of a belief — a belief that a new recovery can emerge from the ashes of such an inferno.”
Several store owners who spoke with VOA said the fire caused a significant loss of property. Authorities in Somaliland have formed a committee to assess the financial damage.
“My government will release one million dollars to assist with the disaster’s emergency response,” President Bihi said.
Increasing food prices are putting a strain on families.
The fire in the market occurs on the first day of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, which begins this year with soaring prices of staple foods in Somalia and around the world.
In the aftermath of COVID-19’s economic impact, Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, and recurring drought, the market fire puts extra strain on traders and consumers in Hargeisa’s daytime fasting and nighttime feasting.
“It’s the start of Ramadan, a holy month for 1.8 billion Muslims around the world to observe with prayers, happiness, and the hope of forgiveness and reward,” Mahad Ahmed, a trader whose family lost five shops in the fire, told VOA.
Ramadan is the Islamic lunar calendar’s ninth month. It began on Friday and is expected to last for 29 to 30 days. Observers abstain from eating, drinking, and having sex between sunrise and sunset during Ramadan.
Residents of Mogadishu and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, are aware of the market burnout news and the burden it may impose on the local population.
“We share the pain and sorrow of the people of Hargeisa over the loss of property, and we pray to Allah to provide them with replacements,” Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo said.
“We tell the Somalilanders that we are here for them during their difficult times, and I wish them well.” Indeed, we belong to Allah, and to Allah we will return,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, despite the fact that Somalia regards it as a breakaway region, not a separate country.
The two sides have held multiple rounds of talks, the most recent of which took place in Djibouti in June 2020, when they agreed to form technical committees to continue discussions. Since then, no meetings have taken place.
President Muse Bihi Abdi of Somaliland paid a visit to Washington last month, arguing that the United States should be the first country to recognize his self-declared state’s independence.
Bihi said he was leaving with some positive signals in an interview with VOA Somali during his visit.
The US State Department emphasized the Biden administration’s commitment to a united Somalia while also indicating that stronger ties with Somaliland could be possible.
This report was written by Khadar Akulle.