Residents of Waabaha, a densely populated neighborhood near the former petrol refinery along Jazeera Road, are raising desperate alarms over what they describe as a shocking and dangerous sewage scandal unfolding just south-west of Mogadishu Aden Abdulle International Airport.
According to residents, raw, untreated sewage from airport camps, Halane-area facilities, embassies, and international missions is being transported daily by tanker trucks and dumped directly into open channels that flow straight into the ocean. What was once a coastal lifeline is now, residents say, being turned into an open sewer.
Speaking anonymously out of fear, residents describe a community already suffering the consequences. “The smell is unbearable. People feel sick all the time,” one resident says. Families report constant nausea, breathing problems, skin rashes, headaches, and stomach illnesses. Children are kept indoors. Windows remain shut despite the heat. The sea—once used for swimming, fishing, and relief—is now avoided in fear.
The alarm deepened after residents reported three separate incidents involving the deaths of children at nearby beach areas. While families decline to speak publicly due to security concerns, the reports have sent shockwaves through the neighborhood. “People believe the water is killing us,” another resident says. “We are living next to poison.”
The situation is especially dangerous because sewage flows through an area already burdened by industrial residue from the former petrol refinery, creating a toxic mix that threatens groundwater, marine life, and human survival. Fishermen report disappearing fish, while residents say the shoreline water appears dark, foul-smelling, and lifeless.
Residents say the dumping continues unchecked, despite the proximity to one of the country’s most sensitive zones—the international airport corridor and coastal road to Jazeera, a popular destination for Mogadishu residents.
This is no longer neglect. It feels like abandonment,” a community elder warns. “If this sewage is not stopped immediately, the damage will spread far beyond Waabaha.
The health risk is already here.
As sewage continues to pour into the sea, residents fear that an environmental disaster and public health catastrophe are no longer looming—they are already unfolding.
