Mogadishu police forces and protesting residents have been running in frequent clashes since the regional and federal government offices have placed the city under an undeclared curfew.
Since then, the police have closed mosques and eating places, ordering people to stay at home as part of a phalanx of measures aiming to curb the spread of COVID-19 among civilian populations.
The police also ordered public transport off the streets further sparking further unrest.
For a country 90% of whose population has no financial reserves to fall back to in times like these, the massive public protests and running skirmishes protesters had been running with security forces is understandable.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo of Federal Somalia, in response to the situation, called a number of key federal, local and clerical leaders to a consultative meeting Sunday.
“We cannot ask people to stay home when the government cannot support them there,” he said. Then what is to be done?
“People are driven to choose between certain death and starvation,” he said. “They – more often than not – choose Coronavirus hoping to escape its toll”.
“We have sent out calls for support to the friends of Somalia to attend to the affected and the would-be-affected,” he said.
