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64-615: The Banaadiri people ( Somali : Reer Benaadir , Arabic : البنادريون ) are a people group in Somalia . Banaadiris largely inhabit Somalia 's southern coastline. Although the Benadiri are sometimes described as the founders of Mogadishu (hence, their colloquial name Reer Xamar or "People of Mogadishu", though the city itself is postulated to be a successor of ancient Sarapion ), the Benadiris originate from Arab tribes who settled

128-747: A Latin orthography as the official national alphabet over several other writing scripts that were then in use. Concurrently, the Italian -language daily newspaper Stella d'Ottobre ("The October Star") was nationalized, renamed to Xiddigta Oktoobar , and began publishing in Somali. The state-run Radio Mogadishu has also broadcast in Somali since 1951. Additionally, other state-run public networks like Somaliland National TV , regional public networks such as Puntland TV and Radio and, as well as Eastern Television Network and Horn Cable Television , among other private broadcasters, air programs in Somali. Somali

192-502: A large presences in adjacent districts to the ancient districts of Mogadishu such as 'Abdiaziz , Shibis , Boondheere , Hamar Jajab , Waaberi and Madina . With the Benadiri presences in these districts being made of both the native reer Xamars and other Benadiri people who had moved to the city after the expansion that came with it being made the capital of Somalia. Much like Mogadishu the Benadiri people in Merca are primarily based in

256-680: A leader known as Amir, believed to originate from the Abgaal , formed a following or "tribe" which invaded the territory of Merca and expelled the Ajuran clan. The El Amir ruled for thirty-four years until the Biimaal expelled them and definitively occupied Merca. One of the most powerful sultanates to have emerged from Southern Somalia called the Geledi Sultanate centered in Afgooye in

320-464: A passage from the Quran Surat Nur verse 10 which translates as "Ask Allah forgiveness, for He is forgiving He will send rain from the sky" ( Arabic : فَقُلْتُ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفَّارًا). During this Festival, animals are slaughtered and prayers are said, in search of God‟s forgiveness for transgressions, to ask for the calming of the winds so that ships can sail, and for

384-493: A prominent 40,000-entry Somali dictionary. Most of the terms consisted of commonly used nouns. These lexical borrowings may have been more extensive in the past since a few words that Zaborski (1967:122) observed in the older literature were absent in Agostini's later work. In addition, the majority of personal names are derived from Arabic. The Somali language also contains a few Indo-European loanwords that were retained from

448-626: A series of commercial ports on the Somali littoral. According to the Periplus , maritime trade already connected peoples in the Merca area with other communities along the Somali Sea coast. According to the 12th-century author Al-Idrisi the Hawiye occupied the coastal areas between Ras Hafun and Merca, as well as the lower basin of the lower Shabelle river. Al-Idrisi's mention of the Hawiye

512-649: A village near Merca, in a battle between the Bimaal and Geledi Sultanates. His son Sultan Ahmed Yusuf tried to seek revenge but was also killed in 1878 at Agaaran, near Marka by the Bimal. This caused a steady decline in the Geledi Sultanate. The Bimal revolt , Bimal resistance , or Banadir resistance was a guerrilla war against the Italian Somaliland in southern Somalia . It was fought from

576-524: Is a result of a long series of southward population movements over the past ten centuries from the Gulf of Aden littoral. Lamberti subdivides Northern Somali into three dialects: Northern Somali proper (spoken in the northwest; he describes this dialect as Northern Somali in the proper sense), the Darod group (spoken in the northeast and along the eastern Ethiopia frontier; greatest number of speakers overall), and

640-448: Is a tonal language, whereas Banti (1988) suggests that it is a pitch system. The syllable structure of Somali is (C)V(C). Root morphemes usually have a mono- or di-syllabic structure. Clusters of two consonants do not occur word-initially or word-finally, i.e., they only occur at syllable boundaries. The following consonants can be geminate: /b/, /d/, /ɖ/, /ɡ/, /ɢ/, /m/, /n/, /r/ and /l/. The following cannot be geminate: /t/, /k/ and

704-732: Is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch. It is spoken primarily in Greater Somalia , and by the Somali diaspora as a mother tongue. Somali is an official language in both Somalia and Ethiopia , and serves as a national language in Djibouti , it is also a recognised minority language in Kenya . The Somali language is officially written with the Latin alphabet although

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768-625: Is most generally known as dabshiid which translate to lighting of the fire in Somali (Neyrus in Persian), this festival occurs in Mogadishu at the same time as the Istunka in Afgooye , and is so similar as to be the same. The men gather in groups by lineage, and wear different coloured shirts with matching headbands to identify their clan affiliations, they also carry long sticks that they thrust up and down in rhythm as they chant and shuffle through

832-597: Is not marked, and front and back vowels are not distinguished. Writing systems developed in the twentieth century include the Osmanya , Borama and Kaddare alphabets , which were invented by Osman Yusuf Kenadid , Abdurahman Sheikh Nuur and Hussein Sheikh Ahmed Kaddare , respectively. Several digital collections of texts in the Somali language have been developed in recent decades. These corpora include Kaydka Af Soomaaliga (KAF), Bangiga Af Soomaaliga,

896-651: Is over 1000 years old, and still spoken today by approximately 30,000 Bravanese, this is due to the preservation of the language by the early scholars in Barawa . Sheikh Qassim al Barawi was the first Bravanese Scholar to start writing standard Chimini, it was written in Persian and Arabic . Throughout history, the language was used to spread Islam in the Swahili Coast , this was done via poetry and Religious books or manuscripts. Istaqfurow or Istaqfurlow derives form

960-481: Is rarely pronounced as a velar fricative, Partially the reason why is that it is mostly found in Arabic loanwords. It is pronounced as the phoneme χ when it is an allophone for the letter ⟨q⟩ in syllabic codas. As in A kh ri from A q ri meaning (read). Pitch is phonemic in Somali, but it is debated whether Somali is a pitch accent , or it is a tonal language . Andrzejewski (1954) posits that Somali

1024-584: Is recognized as an official working language in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Although it is not an official language of Djibouti , it constitutes a major national language there. Somali is used in television and radio broadcasts, with the government-operated Radio Djibouti transmitting programs in the language from 1943 onwards. The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation also broadcasts in the Somali language in its Iftin FM Programmes. The language

1088-467: Is similar to the stem alternation that typifies Cairene Arabic . Somali has two sets of pronouns: independent (substantive, emphatic) pronouns and clitic (verbal) pronouns. The independent pronouns behave grammatically as nouns, and normally occur with the suffixed article -ka/-ta (e.g. adiga , "you"). This article may be omitted after a conjunction or focus word. For example, adna meaning "and you..." (from adi - na ). Clitic pronouns are attached to

1152-738: Is spoken by an estimated 95% of the country's inhabitants, and also by a majority of the population in Djibouti. Following the start of the Somali Civil War in the early 1990s, the Somali-speaking diaspora increased in size, with newer Somali speech communities forming in parts of the Middle East, North America and Europe. Constitutionally, Somali and Arabic are the two official languages of Somalia . Somali has been an official national language since January 1973, when

1216-562: Is spoken in Somali inhabited areas of Somalia , Djibouti , Ethiopia , Kenya , Yemen and by members of the Somali diaspora . It is also spoken as an adoptive language by a few ethnic minority groups and individuals in Somali majority regions. Somali is the most widely spoken Cushitic language in the region followed by Oromo and Afar . As of 2021, there are approximately 24 million speakers of Somali, spread in Greater Somalia of which around 17 million reside in Somalia. The language

1280-718: Is spoken in the Somali territories within North Eastern Kenya , namely Wajir County , Garissa County and Mandera County . The Somali language is regulated by the Regional Somali Language Academy , an intergovernmental institution established in June 2013 in Djibouti City by the governments of Djibouti, Somalia and Ethiopia. It is officially mandated with preserving the Somali language. As of October 2022, Somali and Oromo are

1344-518: Is the alternative name of Barawa, the Bravanese people themselves would never call the town as Barawa or Brava, but rather as Miini. Chimini is a standard version of the original Bravanese language which is called Chambalazi , the standard Chimini language contains and Arabic . Chambalazi contains some of the oldest Swahili words and dialects, it started to evolve through time and intermixing of other ethnicity and languages. The Barawa language

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1408-734: Is the first documentary reference to a specific Somali group in the Horn. Later Arab writers also make references to the Hawiye clan in connection with both Merca and the lower Shabelle valley. Ibn Sa'id (1214–74), for instance, considered Merca to be the capital of the Hawiye, who lived in fifty villages on the bank of a river which he called the Nile of Mogadishu , a clear reference to the Shabelle river. Yaqut al-Hamawi , another thirteen-century Arab geographer also mentions Merca, which he says belonged to

1472-596: The Arabic word Astaġfiru ( Arabic : أَسْتَغْفِرُ) which translates to "seeking forgiveness". Istighfar , seeking forgiveness from Allah is a common practice of Muslims all around the world and you'll hear in everyday conversation between Muslims . Istaqfuro is an annual Benadiri event held in the Hamar Weyne district of Mogadishu when there is high winds and high tides. The festive goers chant "Astaqfuru Rabukum, Innahu Kaana Qaffuura Yursilo Samaa calaykum Mitraaran"

1536-594: The Arabic script and several Somali scripts like Osmanya , Kaddare and the Borama script are informally used. Somali is classified within the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, specifically, Lowland East Cushitic in addition to Afar and Saho . Somali is the best-documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies of the language dating back to the late 19th century. The Somali language

1600-530: The Biido confederacy in Baraawe ) Reer Jaziira ( Sheekhaal Jaziira) Reer Gendershe ( Sheekhaal Gendershe) Reer Marka are also known as locally and politically as 12 koofi iyo mashayikh (Somali: 12 caps and 3 Sheikhs); there are currently 15 clans in the traditional elder council. With the clan group Reer Maanyo being considered one despite they themselves being a confederation of 4 different clans in

1664-725: The Black Berbers considered ancestors of modern Somalis . During the Middle Ages, the area was one of several prominent administrative centers of the Ajuran Sultanate . The polity formed one of the largest kingdoms in the Horn region. Various pillar tombs exist in the region, which local tradition holds were built in the 15th century when the Sultanate's naa'ibs governed the district. According to Ibn Sa'id in

1728-455: The Near East and South Asia (e.g. khiyaar "cucumber" from Persian : خيار khiyār ). Other loan words have also displaced their native synonyms in some dialects (e.g. jabaati "a type of flat bread" from Hindi: चपाती chapāti displacing sabaayad). Some of these words were also borrowed indirectly via Arabic. As part of a broader governmental effort of linguistic purism in

1792-553: The Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain, scientist Johann Maria Hildebrandt noted upon visiting the area that "we know from ancient authors that these districts, at present so desert, were formerly populous and civilised[...] I also discovered ancient ruins and rock-inscriptions both in pictures and characters[...] These have hitherto not been deciphered." According to the 1974 report for Ministry of Information and National Guidance, this script represents

1856-575: The Somali Youth League , Somalia's first political party. The Banaadiri people split up based on their settlements which range from Mogadishu to Barawa , named after the towns in which they are based in. The largest settlements being Mogadishu (Xamar), Marka and Barawa. In the three big cities there are clans that can also be found in other town umbrella's in the example of Haatim , Reer Faqi and Shanshiyo these clans can be found among all 3 towns. ( Shanshiyo and Reer Faqi are part of

1920-610: The Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) declared it the Somali Democratic Republic 's primary language of administration and education. Somali was thereafter established as the main language of academic instruction in forms 1 through 4 , following preparatory work by the government-appointed Somali Language Committee. It later expanded to include all 12 forms in 1979. In 1972, the SRC adopted

1984-590: The Cushitic and Semitic Afroasiatic languages spoken in the Horn region (e.g. Amharic ). However, Somali noun phrases are head-initial, whereby the noun precedes its modifying adjective. This pattern of general head-finality with head-initial noun phrases is also found in other Cushitic languages (e.g. Oromo), but not generally in Ethiopian Semitic languages. Somali uses three focus markers: baa , ayaa and waxa(a) , which generally mark new information or contrastive emphasis. Baa and ayaa require

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2048-642: The Latin nor Osmanya scripts accommodate this numerical switching. *the commas in the Osmanya number chart are added for clarity Merca The city of Essina is believed to have been the predecessor state of Merca. It used to be an ancient Proto-Somali emporium city-state. It is mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea , a Greek travel document dating from the first century AD, as one of

2112-585: The Lower Juba group (spoken by northern Somali settlers in the southern riverine areas). Benadir (also known as Coastal Somali) is spoken on the central Indian Ocean seaboard, including Mogadishu . It forms a relatively smaller group. The dialect is fairly mutually intelligible with Northern Somali. The language has five basic vowels . Somali has 22 consonant phonemes . The retroflex plosive /ɖ/ may have an implosive quality for some Somali Bantu speakers, and intervocalically it can be realized as

2176-588: The Semitic Himyarite and Sabaean languages that were largely spoken in what is modern day Yemen —"there is an extensive and ancient relationship between the people and cultures of both sides of the Red Sea coast" Mire posits. Yet, while many more such ancient inscriptions are yet to be found or analyzed, many have been "bulldozed by developers, as the Ministry of Tourism could not buy the land or stop

2240-668: The Somali Web Corpus (soWaC), a Somali read-speech corpus, Asaas (Beginning in Somali) and a Web-Based Somali Language Model and text Corpus called Wargeys (Newspaper in Somali). For all numbers between 11 kow iyo toban and 99 sagaashal iyo sagaal , it is equally correct to switch the placement of the numbers, although larger numbers is some dialects prefer to place the 10s numeral first. For example 25 may both be written as labaatan iyo shan and shan iyo labaatan (lit. Twenty and Five & Five and Twenty). Although neither

2304-525: The Somali language, the past few decades have seen a push in Somalia toward replacement of loanwords in general with their Somali equivalents or neologisms . To this end, the Supreme Revolutionary Council during its tenure officially prohibited the borrowing and use of English and Italian terms. Archaeological excavations and research in Somalia uncovered ancient inscriptions in a distinct writing system . In an 1878 report to

2368-530: The Somali people's extensive social, cultural, commercial and religious links and contacts with nearby populations in the Arabian peninsula. Arabic loanwords are most commonly used in religious, administrative and education-related speech (e.g. aamiin for "faith in God"), though they are also present in other areas (e.g. kubbad-da , "ball"). Soravia (1994) noted a total of 1,436 Arabic loanwords in Agostini a.o. 1985,

2432-469: The Somali poems by Sheikh Uways and Sheikh Ismaaciil Faarah. The rest of the existing historical literature in Somali principally consists of translations of documents from Arabic. Since then a number of writing systems have been used for transcribing the Somali language. Of these, the Somali Latin alphabet , officially adopted in 1972, is the most widely used and recognised as official orthography of

2496-699: The city after the civil war In Baraawe , the Bravenese people primarily live in the two oldest towns of Mpayi and Biruune. They also have a presence in Al Bamba, Baghdaadi and Bulo Baazi where they live with groups who are more recent to the town. These towns later on had their names changed by the Siad Barre government, where Biruune and Al Bamba are now Dayax ( Somali : Moon), Mpaayi has been renamed Wadajir ( Somali : United) and Baghdaad being renamed Hawlwadaag ( Somali : Work-sharing). These name changes under

2560-494: The city of Marka. The Banadiri people are primarily and traditionally based on the southern coastal towns of Mogadishu , Marka and Baraawe where Reer Hamar, Reer Marka ( 12 koofi ) and Reer Baraawe confederacies are traditionally based. They can also be found in Warsheikh and other coastal towns between Mogadishu and Baraawe such as Jaziira, Abaay Dhahaan, Dhaanane, Jilib Marka, Gendershe, Munghiya and further south in

2624-543: The colonial period. Most of these lexical borrowings come from English and Italian and are used to describe modern concepts (e.g. telefishen-ka , "the television"; raadia-ha , "the radio"). There are 300 loan words from Italian, such as garawati for "tie" (from Italian cravatta ), dimuqraadi from democratico (democratic), mikroskoob from microscopio , and so on. Additionally, Somali contains lexical terms from Persian , Urdu and Hindi that were acquired through historical trade with communities in

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2688-673: The designated route of the neighbourhoods of Hamar Weyne . At the start of the shir festivities, the Reer Faqi elders, in keeping with their position of neutrality in the community, are called upon to bless the occasion. The festival starts and ends at Jama'a Xamar Weyne, Xamar Weyne near the Moorsho neighbourhood. From Barawe Somali language Somali ( / s ə ˈ m ɑː l i , s oʊ -/ sə- MAH -lee, soh- ; Latin script: Af Soomaali ; Wadaad : اف صومالِ ‎; Osmanya : 𐒖𐒍 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘 [af soːmaːli] )

2752-534: The destruction". Besides Ahmed's Latin script, other orthographies that have been used for centuries for writing the Somali language include the long-established Arabic script and Wadaad's writing . According to Bogumił Andrzejewski , this usage was limited to Somali clerics and their associates, as sheikhs preferred to write in the liturgical Arabic language. Various such historical manuscripts in Somali nonetheless exist, which mainly consist of Islamic poems ( qasidas ), recitations and chants. Among these texts are

2816-402: The earliest written attestation of Somali. Much more recently, Somali archaeologist Sada Mire has published ancient inscriptions found throughout Somaliland . As much for much of Somali linguistic history the language was not widely used for literature, Dr. Mire's publications however prove that writing as a technology was not foreign nor scarce in the region. These piece of writing are from

2880-441: The flap [ɽ] . Some speakers produce /ħ/ with epiglottal trilling as / ʜ / in retrospect. /q/ is often epiglottalized . The letter ⟨dh⟩ is a retroflex flap when it is pronounced intervocalically, hence becoming the phoneme ( ɽ ): for example, Qu r aanjo (Ant) from Qu dh aanjo; But however, more often than not is the pronunciation of ɽ to the unretained-retroflex ɾ . The letter ⟨kh⟩

2944-400: The focused element to occur preverbally, while waxa(a) may be used following the verb. Somali loanwords can be divided into those derived from other Afroasiatic languages (mainly Arabic), and those of Indo-European extraction (mainly Italian). Somali's main lexical borrowings come from Arabic, and are estimated to constitute about 20% of the language's vocabulary. This is a legacy of

3008-471: The fricatives. Two vowels cannot occur together at syllable boundaries. Epenthetic consonants, e.g. [j] and [ʔ], are therefore inserted. Somali is an agglutinative language, and also shows properties of inflection . Affixes mark many grammatical meanings, including aspect, tense and case. Somali has an old prefixal verbal inflection restricted to four common verbs, with all other verbs undergoing inflection by more obvious suffixation. This general pattern

3072-442: The hinterlands and the coast. The Benadiri community is not a homogenous group in regards to the languages they speak. As the language they speak is usually dictated by the region they hail from than anything. The 12 Koofi speak a dialect of Somali colloquially referred to as Mahdoonte ( Somali : Mahaa rabta, English : What do you want) or as some linguists have named Aff Asharaf and in some communities in Mogadishu. Especially in

3136-491: The historic Shingani district . This dialect according to Benadiri elders is very similar to the Af-Reer Xamar dialect spoken in the Hamar Weyne district and it surrounding districts. As there was a 3-4% difference in the dialects according to some of the elders. The Bravanese speak the Bravanese language (Chimwiini or Chimini), Northern Dialect of Swahili . Chi- is a prefix denoting "language", and Miini (Mwiini)

3200-527: The late 17th century. The Sultanate of Geledi tried to attack and destroy the Bimaal clan many times to try and capture the coastal city of Merca. But the Bimal of Merca managed to defeat the Geledi Sultanate 2 times. In 1843 Yusuf Mahamud , the Sultan of Geledi, vowed to destroy the Bimaal once and for all and mobilizes the Geledi army. In 1848 the sultan of the Geledi, Yusuf Mahamud was killed at Adaddey Suleyman,

3264-596: The local clans living there or in a lot of the cases being part of a Sufi Jama'ah being found in these towns and their surroundings. In the case of Reer Shaykh Muminoow clan from Hamar Weyne district clan founder is buried in Bur Hakaba and is a Sufi saint for the Rahanweyne local clans in Bur Hakaba , Baidoa and as far as Luuq where they do siyaaro at his grave yearly along with descendants of his from both

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3328-454: The nationalist socialist regime mainly came about to deny the peculiarities of the history of that city compared to other cities in Somalia .   In the hinterlands of the coast these groups from Mogadishu , Merca and Baraawe are primarily found in trading hubs such as; Afgooye , Bur Hakaba , Baidoa , Wanlaweyne , Jowhar , Diinsoor , Bardheere and Luuq . Many of these communities were established in these places due to trade with

3392-405: The oldest part of the city, Saraha and Aw Balle. Much like Mogadishu the Benadiri clans in Merca also have a huge presence in the newer parts of the towns such as Ruusiya, Beytuuras, 'El Bashiirow and Buulo Jaan. Majority of the benadiri in the town are from member clans of the 12 Koofi confederacy however Bravenese and Reer Hamar people can be found here in Merca , the latter primarily moving to

3456-523: The only Cushitic languages available on Google Translate . The Somali languages are broadly divided into three main groups: Northern Somali , Benadir and Maay . Northern Somali forms the basis for Standard Somali. It is spoken by the majority of the Somali population with its speech area stretching from Djibouti , and the Somali Region of Ethiopia to the Northern Frontier District . This widespread modern distribution

3520-453: The plural of the masculine noun dibi ("bull") is formed by converting it into feminine dibi . Somali is unusual among the world's languages in that the object is unmarked for case while the subject is marked, though this feature is found in other Cushitic languages such as Oromo. Somali is a subject–object–verb (SOV) language. It is largely head final , with postpositions and with obliques preceding verbs. These are common features of

3584-455: The rains to come. Despite the locals treating this festival as a festival with Islamic, many believe this festival is a pre-Islamic festival where locals on the coast of southern Somalia . As the festival is a reaction to a natural phenomenon of a particular season, which is linked to the solar calendar and not the lunar which Muslims follow. The Shirka is a festival that happens annually in the Hamar Weyne district of Mogadishu . This festival

3648-409: The southern coast of Somalia and built stone towns for defense and trade. The group members also trace their origins to diverse groups. The latter includes Arab, Indian, Persian, Bantu, and Somali people. Reer Xamar were instrumental in helping to consolidate the local Muslim community, especially in the coastal Benadir region. During the colonial period, they were also among the founding members of

3712-494: The state. The script was developed by a number of leading scholars of Somali, including Musa Haji Ismail Galal , B. W. Andrzejewski and Shire Jama Ahmed specifically for transcribing the Somali language, and uses all letters of the English Latin alphabet except p , v and z . There are no diacritics or other special characters except the use of the apostrophe for the glottal stop , which does not occur word-initially. There are three consonant digraphs : DH, KH and SH. Tone

3776-437: The thirteenth century described nearby Merca as one of the three most important cities on the East African coast along with Mogadishu and Barawa all serving as the commercial and Islamic centers for the Indian Ocean . Following the decline of Ajuran Sultanate . In the vicinity of Merca, a mysterious group known as the El Amir made its appearance between 1650 and 1700. According to an account collected by Guillain in 1847,

3840-432: The town of Kismayo . Off the coast Benadiri people are also found in towns such as Afgooye , Genale , Bulo Burto , Mahadei Weyne , Balcad , Jowhar , Beled Weyne , Diinsor , Bur Hakaba , Baidoa , Bardheere , Buale , Jilib , Jamaame and villages surrounding these towns. In Mogadishu the Benadiri people are primarily found in the 2 oldest districts of the city: Hamar Weyne and Shingani . However they also have

3904-408: The verb and do not take nominal morphology. Somali marks clusivity in the first person plural pronouns; this is also found in a number of other East Cushitic languages, such as Rendille and Dhaasanac. As in various other Afro-Asiatic languages, Somali is characterized by polarity of gender , whereby plural nouns usually take the opposite gender agreement of their singular forms. For example,

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3968-447: The years 1896 to 1926 and largely concentrated in the Lower Shebelle , Banadir , and Middle Shebelle . The war was centered around Merka and Danane. It is compared to the war of the Mad Mullah in northern Somalia. Named after the Bimal clan since they were the major element in the resistance. For more about Bimal or Merca revolt see: In the 1930s a group of Italian Somalis established residency in Merca. The Port of Merca

4032-435: Was recaptured by the Somali National Army along with African Union troops, a few days later. A small battle was fought in which a Somali soldier, several militants, and four civilians died. On 27 July 2022, an Al-Shabaab suicide bomber killed mayor Abdullahi Ali Ahmed Waafow and twenty other people while Waafow was giving a speech. According to the UNDP in 2005, Merca had a population of around 250,000inhabitants. it

4096-435: Was the oldest port in Italian Somalia and was nicknamed the "port of bananas" due to its status as a key exporter of bananas from Somalia to Europe . In the city of Merca there was a huge economic development in the 1930s, due mainly to the growing commerce of the port of Merca connected by small railway to the farm area of Genale . Merca was abandoned by government forces and captured by Al-Shabaab in February 2016. It

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