Taxes push Somali traders away from Mogadishu port

By Mohamed Ahmed

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali traders are now directing their shipments to ports at least 500 km (300 miles) away from Mogadishu to bypass what they say is excessive taxation and inefficiency by the government at the port in the capital.

Importers say they would rather route their cargo through the northern coastal town of Bosasso 1,500 km away or to the rebel-held Kismayu port 500 km south, although the market where they will sell their goods is just 4 km from the Mogadishu port.

"Bosasso and Kismayu ports charge less and Mogadishu's port takes extraordinarily high taxes. The government has no other source of revenue," said Bare Hassan, a trader.

"Worse still, the government has said it will increase the taxes we are complaining about. We currently use these three ports but if the government insists on raising instead of lowering, I think it will have to do without our taxes."

Traders say it costs less to move their cargo over land to Mogadishu, than to route their merchandise through its port.

The government charges $1,300 (803 pounds) for an imported luxury car in Mogadishu, while the insurgent group that rules most of southern Somalia asks for a mere $201 at the Kismayu port. A sack of sugar attracts a $1 levy in the capital but only a quarter of that in Kismayu.

Large swathes of Somalia are under the control of al Shabaab rebels, who profess loyalty to al Qaeda and are bent on toppling the Western-backed government.

The government has authority over a few patches of the capital, denying it much-needed revenue in a country torn apart by nearly two decades of anarchy.