The Horn of Africa States: A Loya Ado to Ras Kiamboni Railway

By Dr. Suleiman Walhad
November 25^th, 2024

This is just a dream, but it could also be converted to a reality – a railway from Loya Ado in Northwest Somalia, bordering Djibouti to Ras Kiamboni, the very tip of southern Somalia near Kenya, which implies that there could be rail lines crisscrossing the country from Mogadishu to Hargeisa, Berbera, and Borama and from Mogadishu to Kismayo to Beled Hawa and Bardhere and from Ras Asyer, to Bossaso to Garowe, Galkayo, Beledweyne, and other lines.

There are, indeed, no railways in Somalia and there are no plans to construct railways in the country as far as we know. There are no major paved roads linking the major centers of the country and what is left of the Chinese-built road linking Mogadishu to Burao is crumbling. New roads are being built from Berbera to Wajale to service trade with Ethiopia, but these are still more like small roads in other developed economies across the globe.

There was a railway line once in the country and this was the Mogadishu to Jawhar line, some 114 km of rail built in 1914 to 1928. It is reported to have had seven stations and stops. The line was extended in 1924 to Afgoi and further to Jannale some 46 km away from Afgoi. The railway was for both passenger and cargo transport and travelled, it is reported, at some 90 km per hour, which was impressive for those days.

The railway was intended to be extended to Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia) at the time  and link it with Djibouti, but it only reached the border town of Ferfer, some 200 km from Mogadishu. That project was abandoned when the Italians were defeated during the Second World War and the railway lines were entirely dismantled by the British in 1941. The rail lines and locomotives and parts were transported to Eritrea and India by the British. Maybe Somalia should seek compensation from the United Kingdom today.

Somalia is a country which is trying to find its way back to breathe after the long civil chaos that engulfed it for so many years, which still keeps the country divided into clan-fiefdoms. It is a country which lacks national leaders acceptable to the whole nation and it is a nation where clan leaders sway power to live off the blood of their fellow kinsmen and other Somalis. It is a country where the clan-leaders prostitute themselves politically in front of non-Somalis begging for handouts. It is a country whose leaders so far have demonstrated themselves incapable of thinking nationally appearing to prove that ages-old painting of Somalis by their traditional enemies that they are incapable of governing themselves.

The very idea of a railway in Somalia is bold and ambitious, let alone a challenge. Nevertheless, there is this potential as  the country enjoys a long coastline where major deep ports could be built and connected to the interior of the country and into Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda and all the way to other countries in Africa’s Atlantic coast from Morocco to South Africa. This would have shortened the supply lines from Asia to Atlantic Africa and hence reduced costs and the same would have happened for trade between Atlantic Africa to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean Africa.

This would have spurred economic development and hence growth and turned people away from the narrow animalistic clan/tribe mindsets to national, regional, and continental approaches, which in one sweep, would have done away with the dependency on foreigners for survival. It is one of the most unfortunate legacies of the civil strives in the country, although even countries with supposedly normal governments like Ethiopia still live on handouts from NGOs and handouts from other governments like the GCC countries across the Red Sea.

An interconnected country would have ruled out hideouts for terror  and other criminal groups in the country and region. Imagine a rail line launching and moving along the coast of the country from Ras Kiamboni along the Indian Ocean and connecting all the cities, villages and towns on the coast to Loya Ado and another line from Ras Kiamboni along the borders with Kenya, and Ethiopia and connecting all, the cities, towns and villages near the border line to Loya Ado and then lines linking these two lines much like the strands of DNA molecules and connecting interior cities, towns and villages to coastal cities, towns and villages.

Such a huge project would be costly and would also take time not only for planning but also for procuring the necessary financing and implementing it into a reality. It is farfetched as noted in the beginning of this article but then there is no time to lose. It is perhaps best for the Federal Government of Somalia through its ministry of infrastructure and transportation to start thinking along these lines or better and prepare itself.

Perhaps it is good to recall the actions of the French statesman Louis-Hubert-Gonzales Lyautey who is reported to have been the French Marshall, who built the then French Protectorate of Morocco. He is reported to have asked his gardener to plant a tree and the gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for one hundred years. It is where the French Stateman shined and ordered him, “In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it, this afternoon!” (Read my article: The Horn Of Africa States: The Potential of Oil And Gas In Regional Integration (Part III) and published in Eurasiareview.com on February 5^th, 2024).

Somalia was always under threat over the past one hundred and fifty years. The Somali lands and people have already been divided, with large parts of the 1.3 million square km of the country and over seventy million people, being absorbed into other countries. Only some 638,000 square km and some thirty-one million are available, and this is being apparently divided into three countries representing the northeastern, northwestern and southern regions of the country. It would be an unfortunate story for a homogenous one family nation to be so divided into unruly minuscule parts all under the control of others.

The enemies of the nation use fragmented and partisan media to create hostilities among Somalis, which is churned out not only on daily basis but throughout the 24 hours of the day, noting that Somalis are today a multinational people residing in over 75% of the world’s UN member nations.

The current leaders of the nation have all been tested and have proven themselves incapable of thinking beyond the pocco di dolari they earn and/or misappropriate and the clan base. There is one new leader emerging in Somaliland, the northwestern part of the country. A veteran diplomat and a political operative, who is marked by resilience and adaptability in the phase of difficult moments, President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, also known as Irro, offers a historic opportunity, for all Somalis in the Horn of Africa, irrespective of where they reside, to show and demonstrate a true Somali leadership.

Should he grab the opportunity, President Irro will go into the history books for all time, as the man who reconstructed Somalia and resurrected it from its moment of weakness.

The dream of a railway project crisscrossing the country and connecting it to beyond its borders is but a rouse to awaken the Somali leadership to the possibilities and in particular when it is known that the country is one of the most geostrategically located countries of the world. It is also lucky it has attracted rising Türkiye to its side and the potential to extract its sub-soil riches in terms of oil and gas has never been closer.

Many would have wondered why Ethiopia is so keen to have access to a sea. Indeed, Somalia has not denied such accessibility. It is only that it should be on commercial basis but not on surrendering part or parts of its territorial waters to others. Rail links with Ethiopia can only contribute to the wealth of Somalis as well as for Ethiopians for they would ship much of its wish to Ethiopia, who currently have only the Nile perch and tilapia from the rivers. The large fish stocks which Somalis do not exploit would then have a ready market and in particular when Ethiopians need fish as they cannot eat meat when they are fasting as part of their religious rituals.

A vast country, Somalia needs to develop not only roads but also railways and shipping to take advantage of the opportunities of these infrastructure and transportation sectors, which are all possible should the oil and gas projects currently underway in the country come to fruition. The latest news point to a positive trajectory in this respect and the dream we pointed at the start of this article may truly become a reality and this would need leaders who have not stained themselves so far. President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi (Irro) stands in an opportune moment to make history, and most Somalis would be grateful that he came at the right moment in time.

It is not only readily available financial resources that can be deployed to finance such projects but also good management and the ability to project viable and feasible processes that can convince financiers and venture capitalists to provide the necessary financings. It is where leadership counts and leadership in its ability to communicate positive vision to others and hence bring in changes either to a corporation or country is what Somalia currently needs today. Good leadership can and should be able to convince financiers to provide funding over long term for such projects. Financiers and venture capitalists can either be major private financing corporations or multilateral financing organizations in different parts of the world.