Friday, March 29, 2024
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Destroying Mogadishu’s Architectural Heritage is no Bliss: Personal Perspective

By Faisal A. Roble

As someone who has worked in the field of urban and regional planning for over the last 28 years, the prospect of destroying Mogadishu’s architectural resources, including the conversion of one of its oldest Mosques (Arbaca Rukun) into a makeshift residence by certain occupants, is all the more alarming and disquieting. Neither is the inaction of Villa Somalia consoling.

Since 2005, I wrote about five articles on Mogadishu starting with my debut, “A Tale of Two Cities”, where I reminisced the glory days of Mogadishu, and celebrated the rich diverse city that put many of us inside its bosom for nourishment and motherly nurture.

Arbaca_RukunWith the recent revelation that the over-century-old Arbaca Rukun Mosque , an iconic Mosque, I am afraid my phantom fear I always harbored about the phantasm demise of Mogadishu is becoming a reality.  If no one steps in to halt the progressive rape and pillage of Mogadishu, many architectural resources in some of the oldest quarters in the city would be lost.  The culprit in this active destruction is the unapologetic silence of Mogadishu’s elites.

Besides the blasphemy surrounding Arbaca Rukun, the former Mayor, MrTarzan, has left behind an aggressive plan that envisions the sale and complete demolition of many historically significant buildings in Shibis, Shingani, Abdulazis, and most importantly Hamarweyn’s enclosed promenade. With Generalissimo Munguni as the new supreme mayor, these resources are in an immediate danger.

Not only are the above mentioned villages/sites our collective gem, but they are also part of the original Balajos or villages (Rer-Xamari Pueblos) that gave birth to modern Mogadishu.  Bilajo Aarab, Beexani, Shibis, Hamarweyn and Shingani together make up a web of mosaic historical neighborhoods that stands out of Sub Saharan Africa.

Mogadishu_downtownAlso, these neighborhoods have ethnic and culture flavor.  Until the 1991 civil war, they represented the historical linkage between our Somali communities of Rer-Hamar, Barwanis,Tunis, Galadis, GibilCad, and the Islamic world that had influenced us immensely.  Notwithstanding 150 years of colonialism and modernization, they also thrived in later years, circa 1940s, even when Mogadishu came to be known as the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean” to denote it as a tourist hub.  Incidentally these groups are, despite giving us the pride of Somali culture, the least armed amongst us thus can’t protect the city from extinction.  
Learning from other Cultures

In the state of California, for example, the Secretary of Interior establishes Standards for conservations and rehabilitation. Conservation programs for cultural resources are not meant to prevent change” – instead, they represent a sophisticated and nuanced framework for managing change.

The Standards do not require that every feature of a historic property be preserved, but do seek to preserve the most significant, character-defining features of a historic site. The Standards also give important guidance on how to design and construct new additions in a manner that does not detract from a property’s historic character.  Stakeholders are also consulted.

In the city of Los Angeles, we have recently embarked on a comprehensive program called SurveyLA.  This groundbreaking citywide historic resources survey is funded by the world known Getty Museum to the tune of several million dollars as seed money.

SurveyLA serves as the primary planning tool to identify, record, and evaluate historic properties and districts within Los Angeles and forms the foundation for a comprehensive and proactive historic preservation program; it provides baseline information to inform planning decision and supports city Policy. In the study, any building older the 40 years is a potential designee for preservation/conservation.

SurveyLA data provides baseline information on potential historic resources to inform planning decisions and support City policy goals.

Context for Preservation of Mogadishu’s Resources

According to the United Nations Education and Science (UNESCO), countries with potential cultural and architectural resources are “required to first take an inventory of its significant cultural and natural properties. By doing so, countries would be able to establish what is called “Tentative List” of what is eligible for preservation and what is not.

To assist countries in this endeavor and provided technical knowhow and capacity, there are international entities including but not limited to the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the World Conservation Union. These entities are in a position to make sound recommendation to the World Heritage Committee (WHC).

The Committee meets once per year to determine whether or not to inscribe each nominated property on the World Heritage List (WHL), and sometimes defers the decision to request more information from the country who nominated the site. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the  list.

As provided in below list, many buildings in Hamarweyn, Shibis, Shingani and Abdulazis neighborhoods could easily meet the UNESCO established standards for Cultural resources designation:

1. is a masterpiece of human creative genius

2. exhibits an important interchange of human values, over a span of time, or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning, or landscape design

3. an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history

4.bears a unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared

5.directly/tangibly is associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance.”

Villa Somalia must put a halt illegal occupation of Arbaca Rukun, and to any impending plans to demolish the unique mosaic neighborhoods of Hamarweyn, Shibis, Shingani, and Abdulazis and start protecting the city’s early Islamic architecture that had been preserved for hundreds of years.  Some of these buildings go back to the 10th century, and are not found anywhere in the continent of Africa. If these resources are lost, the entire Somali speaking race, and the world community at large, would be the ultimate losers.

Alternative Recommendation to losing cultural Resources

– Initiate a presidential moratorium to stop all pending demolition permits that may affect architectural resources;

– Evict the illegal occupant of the iconic Arbaca Rukun Mosque  for a potential preservation.

– The government of Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud must suspend its plans to demolish buildings in Xamarweyn’s enclosed promenade or other significant buildings that are architecturally significant.

– Build on [existing] empty land for the expansion/growth of Mogadishu.

– Take the Mogadishu case to UNESCO for possible funding to survey and come up with a plan for future preservation, conservation and rehabilitation.

Faisal A. Roble
Email:[email protected]

 


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