Be realistic — painfully realistic, the kind of realism that makes people shift in their seats and reach for the nearest excuse. Mogadishu is no longer a “shared capital.” It hasn’t been for more than three decades, yet the political class still recites the lie with the enthusiasm of a badly trained parrot.

What stands today on the Banadir coastline is not a federal capital, nor a symbol of national unity, nor the beating heart of a reborn Somali Republic. No, Mogadishu is a fortified clan foxhole, a trench lined with roadblocks, Tigre-imported cement, and the selective memory of those who pretend the Civil War ended everywhere except in their own political psyche.

Let’s call things by their names before the masquerade consumes us all.

THE MYTH OF THE “NATIONAL CAPITAL”

A capital belongs to the nation.
Mogadishu, in practice, belongs to the mentality of its owners — a single clan holding the city as a victory trophy ever since the 1991 clan cleansing that violently uprooted Darood communities who had lived peacefully there for generations.

This is a historic fact.
Not an insult.
Not a provocation.
A documented, unrepented wound.

And yet, each time a Darood politician visits Mogadishu, they are expected to behave like thankful guests, not constitutional stakeholders. They must walk like diplomats in a foreign state — escorted, monitored, barely tolerated, and reminded silently: “This is not yours anymore.”

Anyone pretending otherwise is either:

Delusional

Nostalgic

Or dangerously hopeful

WDM recommends medical check-ups for all three conditions.

THE DE FACTO REALITY: OWNERSHIP MENTALITY REPUBLIC

In today’s Mogadishu:

Federalism is tolerated only when it serves Mogadishu’s political merchants.

The constitution is cited only when it helps retain power.

The “national capital” label is weaponized to extract resources while keeping other regions politically paralyzed.

The unwritten code of modern Mogadishu politics is simple:

“What’s yours is mine.
What’s mine is absolutely mine.”

It is a city administered by a clan, defended by a clan, narrated by a clan, and mythologized by a clan — yet publicly marketed as a capital for all.

This is not a capital city; it is a clan condominium with a ceremonial national flag.

THE WARLORD WHO SPEAKS THE TRUTH

And here lies the great satire of Mogadishu politics:

During a recent parliamentary debate, a warlord-turned-senator — a man who once patrolled the capital in a technical, ruling neighborhoods with the arrogance of a medieval baron — stood up and spoke with surprising clarity about Mogadishu’s ownership mentality.

And ironically, tragically, his worldview is closer to Mogadishu’s reality than that of Said Dahir and the “Mogadishu belongs to all Somalis” dreamers.

The warlord, Muse Saudi Yalaxow, understands the city because he once ran it.
He knows its unspoken truth:

“Mogadishu belongs to us. Everyone else is here by convenience, not by right.”

Said Dahir and his like inside and outside the rubber-stamped parliament— idealists preaching Scandinavian-style inclusivity — may be sincere, but they are speaking to a Mogadishu that does not exist, has not existed since 1991, and will not exist until the psychological barricades fall.

In Mogadishu, the warlord is the realist.
The intellectual is the romantic.
And the city remains a fortress pretending to be a capital.

DAROOD “OWNERSHIP CLAIM”? A SAD COMEDY OF SELF-DECEPTION

Let’s address the elephant in the ruined villa:

Some Darood elites keep whispering, “Mogadishu is our capital too.”

WDM responds:
“With what army, what rights, what demographic footprint, and what political leverage?”

If a capital cannot guarantee:

free movement,

equal property rights,

political neutrality,

and safety without clan sponsorship,

then one cannot call it a capital.
Call it something else: a tribal headquarters with UNDP branding.

Those clinging to the dream of shared ownership are still mentally living in pre-1991 postcards.

History moved on.
They didn’t.

THE CONSEQUENCE: A COUNTRY WITH A HOSTAGE CAPITAL

When the capital belongs to one clan, what happens?

1. Federalism collapses.
Every negotiation becomes a hostage negotiation.

2. Other regions operate like independent states.
Because they cannot trust a city that doesn’t treat them as equals.

3. National elections become Mogadishu family business.

4. Every president becomes a clan-appointed caretaker, not a national leader.

5. The Civil War continues in political form, wearing a suit and speaking donor-friendly English.

THE SATIRE OF “NATIONAL OWNERSHIP”

Mogadishu is presented as:

National capital

Seat of sovereignty

Symbol of unity

Federal heartbeat

But ask any honest resident of the city who owns Mogadishu, and they will laugh you out of KM4.

Laughter — the final stage of truth.

THE WDM VERDICT

WDM issues its ruling:

Mogadishu, as currently constituted, cannot be the capital of a functioning federal republic.
It is the inherited foxhole of 1991, wrapped in a national flag.

Until the city:

confronts its past,

acknowledges what happened,

dismantles the ownership mentality,

and treats other Somalis as stakeholders,
there will never be a “Somali capital,”
only a Hawiye metropolis hosting federal tourists.

This is not hatred.
This is historical realism stripped of political cosmetics.

Somalia cannot build a republic on landmines of selective memory.

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