By any serious measure, Mogadishu today is more stable, more vibrant, and more hopeful than it has been in decades. So when The Economist recently published a nameless and cowardly article claiming Somalia’s state-building is “in tatters” and predicting that Mogadishu may fall to al-Shabab, it became clear that the magazine has abandoned responsible journalism in favor of sensationalism. It chose fear over facts, detachment over ground truth, and cynicism over the resilience of a people rebuilding their city and state from ashes.
Let me be very clear. Mogadishu is not falling. Mogadishu is standing. In fact, it is standing taller every year, supported by a population that is tired of war, energized by opportunity, and determined to never again allow terror or foreign indifference to define its future.
I live in this city. I walk its streets, I drink its tea, and I speak to its youth. Mogadishu is not perfect, but it is not what The Economist describes. The city is cleaner than it has been in years. Cafés are buzzing from KM4 to Lido Beach. Universities are opening new faculties. The number of weddings and family gatherings, once silenced by insecurity, have become ordinary again. Local startups are hiring software engineers. Diaspora families are returning to build homes and invest. If that is a city “falling,” then what does rebuilding even look like to Western editors?
What’s most appalling is not simply the article’s pessimism, but the laziness behind it. The Economist did not cite a single credible expert. It provided no evidence to back its alarming claim that “a growing number of observers fear Mogadishu could fall to al-Shabab.” Who are these observers? What data supports this theory? There is none. No serious analyst who has worked in Somalia in the last five years would make such a claim, especially when security has improved in the capital and the Somali people have shown extraordinary resolve in the face of threats.
The real danger is not Mogadishu falling to al-Shabab. It is the international media falling into the trap of old, tired narratives that no longer reflect reality. For too long, Somalia has been treated as a case study in dysfunction, rather than a story of survival and transformation. That mindset must change.
Yes, Somalia faces real challenges. Al-Shabab remains a threat. Federalism is under stress. Donor fatigue is real. But these challenges do not define the totality of Somalia’s story. They exist alongside some of the most significant institutional and economic gains we have seen in decades.
Let’s take a moment to talk about the progress the article ignored.
Somalia is experiencing one of the fastest-growing GDP rates in East Africa. Debt relief was achieved in 2023, opening new opportunities for foreign investment and access to international financial markets. For the first time in a generation, the government is paying salaries on time with its own revenue. Customs systems are being digitized. Procurement procedures are being standardized. These are not minor gains. These are the building blocks of a functioning state.
Mogadishu, as the capital, is at the heart of this transformation. The port is being upgraded. Roads are being paved. Schools are opening. Civil society is not only active, but growing. Neighborhoods that were once unsafe to visit after dark now see children playing football and women shopping for groceries late into the evening.
And what about the people? The youth of Mogadishu, who make up the majority of the population, are not passive. They are studying, working, creating, and dreaming. They are building businesses on Instagram, writing poetry, coding apps, and challenging each other to do more for their communities. That spirit is not captured by foreign correspondents who spend two days in Garowe or write from Nairobi.
The Economist’s claim that state-building is a failed project is also intellectually dishonest. State-building is not a switch that gets flipped. It is a process. A long, painful, generational process. It is one thing to criticize that process when warranted. It is another to dismiss it altogether while ignoring measurable signs of progress.
It is no coincidence that the article chose to highlight setbacks while omitting successes. That is not journalism. That is narrative shaping. In its haste to dramatize Somalia’s internal political tensions, the magazine entirely ignored how many Somalis support electoral reform, or how the country’s fiscal institutions are working better than ever. It failed to mention how much of Mogadishu’s infrastructure is now under Somali control, not foreign forces. It overlooked how local governance is being practiced more consistently than before.
One might ask, why does this matter? Why is it important to push back against a magazine article?
Because words have consequences. When powerful publications like The Economist declare that Somalia is a lost cause, they influence donor policies, investor decisions, and even security cooperation. They demoralize our citizens. They embolden enemies. Al-Shabab doesn’t need a propaganda department when it can simply cite Western media declaring the federal government a failure.
We must not allow this narrative to go unchallenged. Somalia’s future does not depend on the pessimism of distant observers, but on the strength of those who have survived the worst and are committed to something better. That includes the mothers running corner shops, the elders mediating disputes, the engineers building fiber optic networks, and the youth starting nonprofit organizations and news platforms.
There’s a reason al-Shabab cannot take Mogadishu. It’s not just because of checkpoints and police patrols. It’s because the people here won’t allow it. They have endured too much to let fear win again. They have made their choice. They want a functioning state, an open economy, and a city where the sound of prayer and laughter drowns out the noise of war.
So let the record show: Mogadishu is not collapsing. It is standing tall, sometimes with pain, but always with purpose.
The Economist may have given up. But Mogadishu has not. And it never will.
