Galkayo: A peaceful island in Somalia

The runway was in the middle of nowhere. Considering the rickety plane that flew us here, it was with a tinge of happiness that we alighted. As far as the eye could see, there was no life; just bush stretching after bush till the end. The sun was at a scorching degree, and the humidity in the air was unbearable.

Welcome to Galkayo International Airport, the lifeline for a region that is barely connected to the rest of the world. This airport alone says a great deal about this city, and how it has been able to survive throughout Somalia’s 20-year civil war. It has been the centre of controversy between the city’s north-south divide, and has grown with time to become an emblem of civility and progress.

Galkayo is divided into two zones. The northern part is ruled by the autonomous government of Puntland, while the southern part is governed as an entity of the Galmudug state. Each state claims territorial sovereignty over the city and the Galmudug state has even gone as far as declaring the city as its capital. But one factor has remained crucial in the two governments’ relationship, and has created a truce that has held for many years: the Galkayo airport.

Surreal world

The airport here acts as a buffer zone and is seen by the residents as the common denominator that unites them all and makes both sides hold their respective fire. The taxes collected by the airport authority are divided equally between the two sides, establishing a fragile, yet impeccable system that has brought tranquillity to this city amidst Somalia’s chaos.

This is ultimate ‘nomad democracy’, where an airport consisting of a brick hall and a barely existing airstrip stand at the cross-section of what might otherwise have been a theatre of an all-out war.

Source: Africa Review